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Complex Endosymbiosis II: The Nonphotosynthetic Plastid of Apicomplexa Parasites (The Apicoplast) and Its Integrated Metabolism

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Plastids

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2776))

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Abstract

Chloroplasts are essential organelles that are responsible for photosynthesis in a wide range of organisms that have colonized all biotopes on Earth such as plants and unicellular algae. Interestingly, a secondary endosymbiotic event of a red algal ancestor gave rise to a group of organisms that have adopted an obligate parasitic lifestyle named Apicomplexa parasites. Apicomplexa parasites are some of the most widespread and poorly controlled pathogens in the world. These infectious agents are responsible for major human diseases such as toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, and malaria, caused by Plasmodium spp. Most of these parasites harbor this relict plastid named the apicoplast, which is essential for parasite survival. The apicoplast has lost photosynthetic capacities but is metabolically similar to plant and algal chloroplasts. The apicoplast is considered a novel and important drug target against Apicomplexa parasites. This chapter focuses on the apicoplast of apicomplexa parasites, its maintenance, and its metabolic pathways.

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Change history

  • 27 April 2024

    A correction has been published.

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Acknowledgments

This work and their authors were supported by Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France (Project ApicoLipiAdapt grant ANR-21-CE44-0010; Project Apicolipidtraffic grant ANR-23-CE15-0009-01), The Fondation pour la Recherche MÕdicale (FRM EQU202103012700), Laboratoire d’Excellence Parafrap, France (grant ANR-11-LABX-0024), LIA-IRP CNRS Program (Apicolipid project), the Université Grenoble Alpes (IDEX ISP Apicolipid) and Région Auvergne Rhone-Alpes for the lipidomics analyses platform (Grant IRICE Project GEMELI), Collaborative Research Program Grant CEFIPRA (Project 6003-1) by the CEFIPRA (MESRI-DBT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, UMR5309, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Grenoble Alpes, U1209, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Grenoble, France

    Nyamekye Quansah, Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté & Cyrille Y. Botté

  2. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM, U1209, Grenoble, France

    Cyrille Y. Botté

  3. ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France

    Sarah Charital

Authors
  1. Nyamekye Quansah
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  2. Sarah Charital
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  3. Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté
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  4. Cyrille Y. Botté
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cyrille Y. Botté .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IRIG, CEA-Grenoble, UMR 5168 CNRS-CEA-INRAE-Univ. Grenoble A, Grenoble, France

    Eric Maréchal

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Quansah, N., Charital, S., Yamaryo-Botté, Y., Botté, C.Y. (2024). Complex Endosymbiosis II: The Nonphotosynthetic Plastid of Apicomplexa Parasites (The Apicoplast) and Its Integrated Metabolism. In: Maréchal, E. (eds) Plastids. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2776. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3726-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3726-5_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3725-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3726-5

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