RAP proteins regulate apicoplast noncoding RNA processing in Plasmodium falciparum
We demonstrated that PfRAP03 (PF3D7_0518100) and PfRAP08 (PF3D7_0707800) are essential apicoplast proteins. Transcriptomics and proteomics, including high-throughput sequencing of RNA isolated by crosslinking immunoprecipitation (eCLIP-seq), confirmed their involvement in RNA biology and binding to apicoplast tRNAs and rRNAs, thus validating their role in post-transcriptional regulation in this parasite-specific organelle.