Plastid-to-nucleus signalling in Plasmodium

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Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite. Very surprisingly, the ancestors of this parasite (and related ones like Toxoplasma, which can also cause disease) were photosynthetic. Like plants and algae, their cells contained chloroplasts, the site of photosynthesis. Although Plasmodium is no longer photosynthetic, it still has the remains of the chloroplast, called the apicoplast, and this is essential for the parasite to live. Many drugs for malaria, such as clindamycin, work by interfering with the the Plasmodium chloroplast. Many of the proteins in the chloroplast are made elsewhere in the cell, from genes present in the nucleus, and imported into the chloroplast after they have been made. We believe that the chloroplast can send a signal to tell the nucleus when it needs these proteins, and we want to test this idea. We know that something similar happens with the chloroplasts of plants and algae, so we know how to test it with Plasmodium. If we can show this signalling happens, we can start to understand how to interfere with it - and this may lead to new drugs for treating malaria.