Fatty acid metabolism in the Plasmodium apicoplast: Drugs, doubts and knockouts

Abstract

Abstract The malaria parasite Plasmodium possesses a relict, non-photosynthetic plastid known as the apicoplast. The apicoplast is essential for parasite survival, and harbors several plant-like metabolic pathways including a type II fatty acid synthesis (FASII) pathway. The FASII pathway was discovered in 1998, and much of the early research in the field pursued it as a therapeutic drug target. These studies identified a range of compounds with activity against bloodstage parasites and led to the localization and characterization of most enzymes in the pathway. However, when genetic studies revealed FASII was dispensable in bloodstage parasites, it effectively discounted the pathway as a th..