A Green Algal Apicoplast Ancestor

Abstract

Apicomplexan parasites, including the human pathogens Toxoplasma and Plasmodium , contain a vestigial plastid, the apicoplast. This chloroplast-derived organelle is the remnant of a secondary endosymbiosis between an ancestral apicomplexan and a photosynthetic organism whose origin is moot ([1–4][