Lost in translation: dissecting the divergent features of Toxoplasma gondii mitochondrial translation

How do you run a conveyer belt production line when the belt is cut into pieces and the workers are in another room? Apicomplexans, the deadly parasites that cause diseases such as malaria, face this challenge. The production of proteins in the mitochondrion takes place in a fragmented machine, the mitoribosome, and the building blocks are imported from outside the mitochondrion. No other example of this has been found in other organisms and it is very different from human cells where the mitoribosome backbone consist of two continuous parts and the necessary building blocks are made in the mitochondrion. 

We aim to understand the unique parasite factors that enable this essential operation, and to elucidate the differences in the mechanisms of apicomplexan compared with human mitochondrial translation.

Our findings may assist in the design of new drugs for these deadly pathogens.