Journal article
The apicoplast
GI McFadden
Protoplasma | SPRINGER WIEN | Published : 2011
Abstract
Parasites like malaria and Toxoplasma possess a vestigial plastid homologous to the chloroplasts of plants. The plastid (known as the apicoplast) is non-photosynthetic but retains many hallmarks of its ancestry including a circular genome that it synthesises proteins from and a suite of biosynthetic pathways of cyanobacterial origin. In this review, the discovery of the apicoplast and its integration, function and purpose are explored. New insights into the apicoplast fatty acid biosynthesis pathway and some novel roles of the apicoplast in vaccine development are reviewed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.
Grants
Funding Acknowledgements
GIM is an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and a Howard Hughes International Research Scholar. Program Grant support from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia is gratefully acknowledged. The Australian Red Cross generously supplied human red blood cells for our research. I thank Giel van Dooren for suggestions on the manuscript and for pointing out the likely apicoplast ubiquitin.