Nifs and sufs in malaria

This review assembles data from three bodies of literature (bacterial genet ics, plastid biogenesis and parasitology) that seldom have much direct cros stalk. After overcoming terminological complications to sort out microbial nifS from sufS genes, we connect a bacterial operon, recently found to be i nvolved in iron metabolism, the formation of [Fe-S] clusters and oxidative stress to a potentially important gene (sufB) carried on the degenerate pla stid genome of malaria and related parasites.