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Volume 31, Number 9—September 2025
Etymologia
Apicoplast [ā′-pik-ō-plast]
Figure

Figure. Visualization of the apicoplast organelle inside a malaria parasite. Microscopy image of a Plasmodium falciparum transgenic parasite expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to a transit peptide, which marks the apicoplast. A) Apicoplast visualized through targeted GFP; B) bright field showing P. falciparum parasite in human RBC; C) merged image of GFP and bright field. Outer dashed line depicts the membrane of the iRBC. Inner dashed line depicts the cell membrane of the intraerythrocytic parasite. The intricate green structure is the apicoplast in its elongated phase during the last hours of the intraerythrocytic cell cycle. FV appears as a black sac-like structure. Image taken using a confocal microscope; scale bar indicates 1.25 µm. FV, food vacuole; iRBC, infected red blood cell.