Palmitoylation in apicomplexan parasites: from established regulatory roles to putative new functions

•Apicomplexan parasites pose significant health risk to animals and humans.•Protein palmitoylation plays a role in many physiological and pathological states.•Structural analyses suggest differences in substrate specificities for PATs.•T. gondii and P. falciparum palmitoylomes unveil novel possible regulatory functions.•Nuclear protein palmitoylation could regulate different chromatin-related processes.