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  • Title: A plastid segregation defect in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
    Author: He CY, Shaw MK, Pletcher CH, Striepen B, Tilney LG, Roos DS.
    Journal: EMBO J; 2001 Feb 01; 20(3):330-9. PubMed ID: 11157740.
    Abstract:
    Apicomplexan parasites--including the causative agents of malaria (Plasmodium sp.) and toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii)--harbor a secondary endosymbiotic plastid, acquired by lateral genetic transfer from a eukaryotic alga. The apicoplast has attracted considerable attention, both as an evolutionary novelty and as a potential target for chemotherapy. We report a recombinant fusion (between a nuclear-encoded apicoplast protein, the green fluorescent protein and a rhoptry protein) that targets to the apicoplast but grossly alters its morphology, preventing organellar segregation during parasite division. Apicoplast-deficient parasites replicate normally in the first infectious cycle and can be isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, but die in the subsequent host cell, confirming the 'delayed death' phenotype previously described pharmacologically, and validating the apicoplast as essential for parasite viability.
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