Plasmodium apicoplast ribosome

The Plasmodium apicoplast ribosome is a prokaryotic-like 70S ribosome located within the apicoplast, a non-photosynthetic plastid essential for the survival of malaria parasites (Goodman et al., 2007, "Antibiotics, the apicoplast and malaria"). This organelle is derived from an ancient secondary endosymbiosis and contains its own vestigial genome, which encodes components of the translation machinery (Wilson et al., 2015, "The apicoplast and its ribosome"). The apicoplast ribosome is responsible for synthesizing essential proteins required for the maintenance of the organelle and its metabolic functions, such as the synthesis of isoprenoid precursors like isopentenyl pyrophosphate (Dahl & Rosenthal, 2007, "Multiple antibiotics that inhibit the Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast"). Because of its bacterial origins, the apicoplast ribosome is highly susceptible to various classes of antibiotics that do not affect the host's eukaryotic 80S ribosomes, making it an ideal therapeutic target (Botté et al., 2012, "Apicoplast: a central hub for lipid organelles"). Drugs targeting this ribosome, such as doxycycline and clindamycin, typically exhibit a "delayed death" phenotype, where the parasite's growth is not immediately halted but the subsequent generation of parasites fails to develop (Kennedy et al., 2019, "Delayed death in the malaria parasite"). This target remains a cornerstone in the treatment of multidrug-resistant malaria and the development of prophylactic strategies.

Other names

Apicoplast 70S ribosomePlasmodium falciparum apicoplast ribosomePlastid ribosomeApicoplast translation machinery

Inhibition of protein translation within the apicoplast organelle, leading to the disruption of essential metabolic pathways and the delayed death of the parasite.