Authors

R Waller¹;  ¹ University of Cambridge, UK

Discussion

Despite Plasmodium sharing much common basic biology with other apicomplexans, only half of its genes are shared with the other intracellular parasites of this group. Even amongst Plasmodium species there is considerable gene novelty, gene family expansion and contraction, and within species there is further ongoing selection for gene sequence change. To understand the cell and evolutionary biology of these organisms, including which parts of the cell and/or cell processes are the sites of greatest adaptation or innovation, we need to know the cellular context of the parasite’s gene products. LOPIT spatial proteomics enables the steady state locations of thousands of cell proteins to be determined simultaneously and, thus, blueprints of the spatial organisation of cells’ proteomes to be determined. We have applied this proteomic method to three asexual stages of P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes and provide resolution of the parasite’s intracellular organelles, the exported parasite proteins within the host cell, and also the host’s proteins and how they are reorganised upon infection.