Dissecting Plasmodium falciparum myosin a function and regulation: the highway to develop novel antimalarial compounds

Malaria is the deadliest parasitic disease (0.5 million deaths per year) and results from infection by Apicomplexan parasites from the genus Plasmodium. Combining X-ray crystallography, transient kinetics, molecular dynamics and parasitology, we characterized PfMyoA, an atypical class XIV myosin from Plasmodium falciparum. The unique N-terminal extension of PfMyoA acts as a switch allowing the motor to move at high speed (motile stage) or produce more force (invasion) depending on its phosphorylation state.