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Science 31 January 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5607, pp. 705 - 708
DOI: 10.1126/science.1078599
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Reports

Dissecting Apicoplast Targeting in the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Bernardo J. Foth,1* Stuart A. Ralph,1* Christopher J. Tonkin,1* Nicole S. Struck,1dagger Martin Fraunholz,2 David S. Roos,2 Alan F. Cowman,3 Geoffrey I. McFadden1ddagger

Transit peptides mediate protein targeting into plastids and are only poorly understood. We extracted amino acid features from transit peptides that target proteins to the relict plastid (apicoplast) of malaria parasites. Based on these amino acid characteristics, we identified 466 putative apicoplast proteins in the Plasmodium falciparum genome. Altering the specific charge characteristics in a model transit peptide by site-directed mutagenesis severely disrupted organellar targeting in vivo. Similarly, putative Hsp70 (DnaK) binding sites present in the transit peptide proved to be important for correct targeting.

1 Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
2 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
3 The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, VIC 3050, Australia.
*   These authors contributed equally to this work.

dagger    Present address: Universität Hamburg, Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.

ddagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gim{at}unimelb.edu.au

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