Dual targeting of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to the apicoplast and cytosol in Plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

The causative agent of malaria, Plasmodium, possesses three translationally active compartments: the cytosol, the mitochondrion and a relic plastid called the apicoplast. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to charge tRNA are thus required for all three compartments. However, the Plasmodium falciparum genome encodes too few tRNA synthetases to supply a unique enzyme for each amino acid in all three compartments. We have investigated the subcellular localisation of three tRNA synthetases (AlaRS, GlyRS and ThrRS), which occur only once in the nuclear genome, and we show that each of these enzymes is dually localised to the P. falciparum cytosol and the apicoplast. No mitochondrial fraction is apparent ..