Fascinating work by Guillén Samander et al. uncovering VAP-interacting LTPs in malaria parasites and a novel BLTP-interacting partner on the IMC. Could this new partnership be unique to apicomplexans, or might it hold across other phyla?
Hely Rodriguez
Our article is now out in its final form in @natcomms.nature.com. Thankful to reviewers for making our preprint better and of course all contributors and funders. Hopefully my first of many stories understanding the complex membrane cell biology of malaria parasites 🙌
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Organelle biogenesis in the rapidly growing malaria parasite requires extensive membrane genesis and remodeling. Here a mechanism to directly supply lipids from the ER to the inner membrane complex (I...
One for the Apicomplexa peeps:
ever wonder how does the IMC grow so fast during progeny formation? Where do all the lipids come from? In our latest work on malaria RBC stages we implicate this monster protein (~6000 residues!) and ER contact sites.
Happy+proud to share and keen to hear thoughts!
Video
Andrés Guillén Samander
A bridge-like lipid transfer protein is critical for generation of invasive stages in malaria parasites https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666630v1
