Metabolic maps and functions of the Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast

Discovery of a relict chloroplast (the apicoplast) in malarial parasites presented new opportunities for drug development. The apicoplast - although no longer photosynthetic - is essential to parasites. Combining bioinformatics approaches with experimental validation in the laboratory, we have identified more than 500 proteins predicted to function in the apicoplast. By comparison with plant chloroplasts, we have reconstructed several anabolic pathways for the parasite plastid that are fundamentally different to the analogous pathways in the human host and are potentially good targets for drug development. Products of these pathways seem to be exported from the apicoplast and might be involved in host-cell invasion.