ArticlePLoS pathogens2020
A mevalonate bypass system facilitates elucidation of plastid biology in malaria parasites.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Article
- Identification of a Putative Metal Transporter in the Apicoplast of Malaria Parasites.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Genetic analysis of pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes in Plasmodium falciparum.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Acyl Carrier Protein is Essential for Apicoplast Biogenesis in Malaria Parasites Independent of Fatty Acid Synthesis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The therapeutic potential of atorvastatin in treatment ofFrontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Genetic analysis of pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- An essential adaptor for apicoplast fission and inheritance in malaria parasites.Nature communications · 2025Article
- An Essential Adaptor for Apicoplast Fission and Inheritance in Malaria Parasites.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Decoding the Minimal Translation System of the Plasmodium falciparum Apicoplast: Essential tRNA-modifying Enzymes and Their Roles in Organelle Maintenance.Journal of molecular biology · 2025Article
- A chaperonin complex regulates organelle proteostasis in malaria parasites.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Dissecting apicoplast functions through continuous cultivation of Toxoplasma gondii devoid of the organelle.Nature communications · 2025Article
- tRNA modifying enzymes MnmE and MnmG are essential forbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Adaptations and metabolic evolution of myzozoan protists across diverse lifestyles and environments.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- Identification of a divalent metal transporter required for cellular iron metabolism in malaria parasites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Article
- tRNA lysidinylation is essential for the minimal translation system found in the apicoplast ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Progressive heterogeneity of enlarged and irregularly shaped apicoplasts inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- A pyruvate transporter in the apicoplast of apicomplexan parasites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Malaria parasites rely on a plastid organelle for survival during the blood stages of infection. However, the entire organelle is dispensable as long as the isoprenoid precursor, isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), is supplemented in the culture medium. We engineered parasites to produce isoprenoid precursors from a mevalonate-dependent pathway, creating a parasite line that replicates normally after the loss of the apicoplast organelle. We show that carbon-labeled mevalonate is specifically incorporated into isoprenoid products, opening new avenues for researching this essential class of metabolites in malaria parasites. We also show that essential apicoplast proteins, such as the enzyme target of the drug fosmidomycin, can be deleted in this mevalonate bypass parasite line, providing a new method to determine the roles of other important apicoplast-resident proteins. Several antibacterial drugs kill malaria parasites by targeting basic processes, such as transcription, in the organelle. We used metabolomic and transcriptomic methods to characterize parasite metabolism after azithromycin treatment triggered loss of the apicoplast and found that parasite metabolism and the production of apicoplast proteins is largely unaltered. These results provide insight into the effects of apicoplast-disrupting drugs, several of which have been used to treat malaria infections in humans. Overall, the mevalonate bypass system provides a way to probe essential aspects of apicoplast biology and study the effects of drugs that target apicoplast processes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.