title: Vacuolar proton pumps in malaria parasite cells.
abstract: The malaria parasite is a unicellular protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium that causes one of the most serious infectious diseases for human beings. Like other protozoa, the malaria parasite possesses acidic organelles, which may play an essential role(s) in energy acquisition, resistance to antimalarial agents, and vesicular trafficking. Recent evidence has indicated that two types of vacuolar proton pumps, vacuolar H+-ATPase and vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase, are responsible for their acidification. In this mini-review, we discuss the recent progress on vacuolar proton pumps in the malaria parasite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan. moriyama@pheasant.pharm.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Shouki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yatsushiro
authors.forename: Akitsugu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D043564:Inorganic Pyrophosphatase / Q000502:physiology; D015388:Organelles; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology*; D025262:Vacuolar Proton-Translocating ATPases / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D025262:Vacuolar Proton-Translocating ATPases; D043564:Inorganic Pyrophosphatase