The apicoplast as an antimalarial drug target

Resistance to commonly used malaria drugs is spreading and new drugs are re quired urgently. The recent identification of a relict chloroplast (apicopl ast) in malaria and related parasites offers numerous new targets for drug therapy using well-characterized compounds. The apicoplast contains a range of metabolic pathways and housekeeping processes that differ radically to those of the host thereby presenting ideal strategies for drug therapy. Ind eed, many compounds targeting these plastid pathways are antimalarial and h ave favourable profiles based on extensive knowledge from their use as anti bacterials. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.