{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]],"date-time":"2026-04-11T19:45:04Z","timestamp":1775936704253,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]]},"group-title":"Microbiology","reference-count":14,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]],"date-time":"2025-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741132800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  Most apicomplexan parasites contain a plastid-derived organelle called the apicoplast, which originated through secondary endosymbiosis. As a result of this evolutionary trajectory, the non-photosynthetic apicoplast is surrounded by four membranes and contains many bacterial-like, druggable targets. It is widely accepted that asexual malaria parasites (\n                  <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                  ) can thrive under antibiotic treatment if supplemented with high concentrations of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP, 200 \u00b5M) and these IPP-rescued parasites are thought to lack the apicoplast and its 35 kb genome but possess many vesicles. However, our findings challenge this apicoplast-minus concept. In late-stage schizonts, we observed that the apicoplast-derived vesicles nearly colocalize with mitochondria and are properly distributed into merozoites during schizogony, suggesting that they are inherited rather than newly synthesized in each asexual cycle. Further, immuno-electron microscopy (immuno-EM) revealed that the \u201capicoplast-minus\u201d parasites possess structures surrounded by four membranes, in addition to single-membrane-surrounded entities. The presence of four-membrane-bound structures suggests that the apicoplast has not truly disappeared in the \u201capicoplast-minus\u201d\n                  <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                  but remains in a distinct, diminished form. We termed this genome-less apicoplast derivative the apicosome, drawing an analogy to the genome-less mitochondrial derivative known as the mitosome. We propose that apicosomes retain essential biochemical and\/or structural functions, which act as barriers to the complete loss of apicoplast when the parasites face antibiotic stress and IPP rescue.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.03.05.641705","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]],"date-time":"2025-03-05T22:55:13Z","timestamp":1741215313000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Inheritance of the genome-less apicoplast in the \u201capicoplast-minus\u201d\n                  <i>Plasmodium falciparum<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"given":"Wei","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ikechukwu","family":"Nwankwo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sean T.","family":"Prigge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hangjun","family":"Ke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1003335107"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.2","first-page":"193","article-title":"The treatment of malaria with tetracycline","volume":"3","year":"1956","journal-title":"Antibiotic Med Clin Ther (New York)"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/381482a0"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.275.5305.1485"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mib.2022.102255"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpara.2016.08.005"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.1001138"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gku500"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1008316"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/mBio.02021-17"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15252\/embj.2020107247"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1083\/jcb.202406064"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1011818"},{"key":"2026041112055265000_2025.03.05.641705v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1074\/jbc.RA120.012646"}],"container-title":[],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1101\/2025.03.05.641705","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]],"date-time":"2026-04-11T19:05:56Z","timestamp":1775934356000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/biorxiv.org\/lookup\/doi\/10.1101\/2025.03.05.641705"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]]},"references-count":14,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1101\/2025.03.05.641705","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}