EF-1delta

EF-1delta (PF3D7_0319600) is a native subunit of the Plasmodium falciparum translation elongation factor complex, identified by its co-purification with PfEF-1beta, PfEF-1alpha, and PfEF-1gamma during tandem affinity purification of a PfEF-1beta bait (PMID:17307963). Beyond this evidence of complex membership, no function, substrate, localization, or phenotype specific to EF-1delta has been characterized in the available corpus.

1. 2007 Medium

   Whether PF3D7_0319600 physically associates with the parasite's core elongation machinery was unknown; tagging PfEF-1beta and purifying its native partners placed EF-1delta within the multi-subunit PfEF-1 complex, establishing it as a bona fide component of the elongation factor assembly.

   Evidence Tandem affinity purification of PfEF-1beta-PTP from transgenic P. falciparum extracts with mass spectrometric identification of co-purifying subunits

   PMID:17307963

   Open questions at the time

   • No reciprocal pulldown using EF-1delta itself as bait to confirm the interaction directionally
   • No functional or biochemical role assigned to EF-1delta within the complex
   • Stoichiometry, binding interface, and direct partners of EF-1delta within the complex are unresolved

• It remains unknown what specific molecular contribution EF-1delta makes to translation elongation in P. falciparum, whether it acts as a guanine-nucleotide exchange component, and what its localization and essentiality are.
• No direct assay of EF-1delta catalytic or regulatory activity
• No genetic knockout or knockdown to assess essentiality
• No subcellular localization data for the protein