Biology 2581B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Antiparasitic, Symbiosis, Plastid
4 Nov 2016
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Apicomplexans are a group of pathogens that include the causative agents of malaria, toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis. They are intracellular parasites that live in many vertebrae and invertebrate animals. They are single-celled eukaryotic parasites that evolved from photosynthetic algae. Apicoplexans evolved from a photosynthetic ancestor, they are part of a large branch of eukaryotic tree of life that is now known as the chromalveolates. This group came came to be through the merge of two eukaryotic cells: a protest host and a red algal endosymbiont. Over time the endosymbiont alga was transformed into the current chloroplast-like organelle. The apicoplexans are unique because they maintain their plasmids despite the fact that they no longer are photosynthetic. The apicoplast is essential for parasite growth and development and therefore it is an ideal drug therapy target, because humans don"t have it so drugs targeted at this chloroplast would have have parasite specificity. Why did the parasite maintain an apparently pointless organelle.
