The photosynthetic origin of apicomplexan parasites was proposed upon the discovery of a reduced non-photosynthetic plastid termed the apicoplast in their cells. Although it is clear that the apicoplast has evolved through a secondary endosymbiosis, its particular origin within the red or green plastid lineage remains controversial. The recent discovery of Chromera velia, the closest known photosynthetic relative to apicomplexan parasites, sheds new light on the evolutionary history of alveolate plastids. Here we review our knowledge on the evolutionary history of Apicomplexa and particularly their plastids, with a focus on the pathway by which they evolved from free-living heterotrophs through photoautotrophs to omnipresent obligatory intracellular parasites. New sequences from C. velia (histones H2A, H2B; GAPDH, TufA) and phylogenetic analyses are also presented and discussed here.

Biology Centre Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic Institute of Parasitology and University of South Bohemia Faculty of Science Branisovská 31 37005 Ceské Budejovice Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

Complex Endosymbioses I: From Primary to Complex Plastids, Serial Endosymbiotic Events

Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Chromerids

Characterization of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases in Chromerids

Endosymbiotic Evolution of Algae, Secondary Heterotrophy and Parasitism

Subcellular Compartments Interplay for Carbon and Nitrogen Allocation in Chromera velia and Vitrella brassicaformis

Extensive gain and loss of photosystem I subunits in chromerid algae, photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans

Tetrapyrrole synthesis of photosynthetic chromerids is likely homologous to the unusual pathway of apicomplexan parasites

Sequence evidence for the presence of two tetrapyrrole pathways in Euglena gracilis

A gene in the process of endosymbiotic transfer

Cascades of convergent evolution: the corresponding evolutionary histories of euglenozoans and dinoflagellates