Parasites FeS Up: Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis in Eukaryotic Pathogens e1003227

Recently, it was demonstrated that the product of the isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway, isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), could sustain growth of malaria parasites when the apicoplast was ablated by antibiotic treatment, suggesting that export of this metabolite to the cytosol is the only essential fu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPLoS pathogens Vol. 9; no. 4
Main Authors Dellibovi-Ragheb, Teegan A, Gisselberg, Jolyn E, Prigge, Sean T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published San Francisco Public Library of Science 01.04.2013
Subjects
Algae
Biosynthesis
Enzymes
Genomes
Metabolism
Metabolites
Microbiology
Organisms
Parasites
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Summary:Recently, it was demonstrated that the product of the isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway, isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), could sustain growth of malaria parasites when the apicoplast was ablated by antibiotic treatment, suggesting that export of this metabolite to the cytosol is the only essential function of the apicoplast in the blood stages of the parasite lifecycle [9]. Since the SUF pathway supplies FeS clusters to two enzymes of the pathway that produces IPP, this finding also strongly suggests that FeS cluster biogenesis in the apicoplast is essential for parasite viability. [...]the enzymes of the SUF pathway are attractive candidates for development of new drug targets because of their essentiality as well as their prokaryotic origin, which makes them significantly different from any enzymes found in the host cell.
ISSN:1553-7366
1553-7374
DOI:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003227