Representative images of the apicoplast during schizont stage of three successive replication cycles in untreated (b), chloramphenicol (c), fosmidomycin (d) and actinonin (e) treated cultures all grown with IPP. The apicoplast is visualized using the P. falciparum reporter strain D10 ACP-GFP in which GFP is targeted to the apicoplast and the nucleus is stained with Hoescht 33342. In this case, a branched apicoplast indicates successful apicoplast development while punctate apicoplasts (observed in replication cycle 1 for actinonin treatment (e) and replication cycle 2 for chloramphenicol treatment (c)) represents an apicoplast that has failed to develop. The apicoplast is no longer present after replication cycle 2 of actinonin treatment and upon replication cycle 3 of chloramphenicol treatment, which leads to complete mislocalization of the GFP.

Amberg-Johnson K, Hari SB, Ganesan SM, Lorenzi HA, Sauer RT, Niles JC, Yeh E. Small molecule inhibition of apicomplexan FtsH1 disrupts plastid biogenesis in human pathogens. Elife. 2017 Aug 18;6. pii: e29865.