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Lipoic acid (LA) is a dithiol-containing cofactor that is essential for the function of α-keto acid dehydrogenase complexes. LA acts as a reversible acyl group acceptor and ‘swinging arm’ during acyl-coenzyme A formation. The cofactor is post-translationally attached to the acyl-transferase subunits of the multienzyme complexes through the action of octanoyl (lipoyl):  N -octanoyl (lipoyl) transferase (LipB) or lipoic acid protein ligases (LplA). Remarkably, apicomplexan parasites possess LA biosynthesis as well as scavenging pathways and the two pathways are distributed between mitochondrion and a vestigial organelle, the apicoplast. The apicoplast-specific LipB is dispensable for parasite growth due to functional redundancy of the parasite's lipoic acid/octanoic acid ligases/transferases. In this study, we show that  LplA1  plays a pivotal role during the development of the erythrocytic stages of the malaria parasite. Gene disruptions in the human malaria parasite  P. falciparum  consistently were unsuccessful while in the rodent malaria model parasite  P. berghei  the  LplA1  gene locus was targeted by knock-in and knockout constructs. However, the  LplA1 (−)   mutant could not be cloned suggesting a critical role of LplA1 for asexual parasite growth  in vitro  and  in vivo . These experimental genetics data suggest that lipoylation during expansion in red blood cells largely occurs through salvage from the host erythrocytes and subsequent ligation of LA to the target proteins of the malaria parasite.

Knockout Studies Reveal an Important Role of Plasmodium Lipoic Acid Protein Ligase A1 for Asexual Blood Stage Parasite Survival