Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A relict, non-photosynthetic plastid found in most of the Apicomplexa, proposed to have evolved via secondary endosymbiosis and surrounded by four membranes within the outermost part of the endomembrane system.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "It's actually thought that the malaria parasite incorporated an algal cell early on, and that the thing we call the apicoplast is the remnant of the algal cell," says

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Joseph DeRisi of the University of California, San Francisco became interested in an organelle inside the malaria parasites' cells known as an apicoplast.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • "Even if our results cannot be confirmed in a field trial, the apicoplast is a promising target for future medication," explains Dr. Johannes

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The apicoplast is a relict chloroplast found in most apicomplexan parasites, and the enzymes it contains are of high interest as drugs targets for several diseases caused by these pathogens.

    Naturejobs - All Jobs 2009

  • The apicoplast is a relict chloroplast found in most apicomplexan parasites, and the enzymes it contains are of high interest as drugs targets for several diseases caused by these pathogens.

    Naturejobs - All Jobs 2009

  • No one was completely sure what the apicoplast did.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Normally, without an apicoplast, the parasites would just die.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • But since the medication blocking the apicoplast does not prevent the sporozoites from reproducing in the liver cell, the immune system is exposed to the full antigen load of a natural infection.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The antibiotics administered target the apicoplast of the parasites.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Sequences with similarity to signal peptides have been found in proteins trafficked to the parasite organelles (e.g. dense granules, apicoplast, mitochondria) as well as secreted out of the parasite.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles 2009

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