An essential pentatricopeptide repeat protein in the apicomplexan remnant chloroplast

Hicks, Joanna L.; Lassadi, Imen; Carpenter, Emma F.; Eno, Madeleine; Vardakis, Alexandros; Waller, Ross F.; Howe, Christopher J.; Nisbet, R. Ellen R.

Abstract

The malaria parasite Plasmodium and other apicomplexans such as Toxoplasma evolved from photosynthetic organisms and contain an essential, remnant plastid termed the apicoplast. Transcription of the apicoplast genome is polycistronic with extensive RNA processing. Yet little is known about the mechanism of apicoplast RNA processing. In plants, chloroplast RNA processing is controlled by multiple pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins. Here, we identify the single apicoplast PPR protein, PPR1. We show that the protein is essential and that it binds to RNA motifs corresponding with previously characterized processing sites. Additionally, PPR1 shields RNA transcripts from ribonuclease degradation. This is the first characterization of a PPR protein from a nonphotosynthetic plastid.

Citation

Hicks, J. L., Lassadi, I., Carpenter, E. F., Eno, M., Vardakis, A., Waller, R. F., …Nisbet, R. E. R. (2019). An essential pentatricopeptide repeat protein in the apicomplexan remnant chloroplast. Cellular Microbiology, 21(12), Article e13108. https://doi.org/10.1111/cmi.13108

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 20, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 16, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Deposit Date: Jun 12, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2020
• Journal: Cellular Microbiology
• Print ISSN: 1462-5814
• Electronic ISSN: 1462-5822
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 12
• Article Number: e13108
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cmi.13108
• Keywords: Immunology; Microbiology; Virology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4633320
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cmi.13108
• Additional Information: Received: 2019-05-31; Accepted: 2019-08-20; Published: 2019-09-16