ATG8 Is Essential Specifically for an Autophagy-Independent Function in Apicoplast Biogenesis in Blood-Stage Malaria Parasites
ABSTRACT Plasmodium parasites and related pathogens contain an essential nonphotosynthetic plastid organelle, the apicoplast, derived from secondary endosymbiosis.Intriguingly, a highly conserved eukaryotic protein, autophagy-related protein 8 (ATG8), has an autophagy-independent function in the apicoplast.Little is known about the novel apicoplast