TOM7

PF3D7_0823700 (TOM7) is identified as a conserved core subunit of the translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM complex) in Plasmodium falciparum, recognized by comparative sequence analysis as an ortholog present alongside Tom40 and Tom22 across diverse eukaryotes (PMID:15155803). Native complexomics places PF3D7_0823700 in co-migration with both the TOM complex and the ER membrane complex (EMC), raising the possibility that it bridges the ER and mitochondrion analogously to yeast TOM5, which is absent from the Plasmodium genome (PMID:39747010). Beyond its assignment as a TOM complex subunit and this co-migration observation, no direct functional characterization of PF3D7_0823700 has been performed in the available corpus.

1. 2004 Low

   Before this work it was unclear whether Plasmodium encodes the small core TOM subunits; identifying a TOM7 ortholog established PF3D7_0823700 as a candidate conserved component of the mitochondrial protein import machinery.

   Evidence comparative sequence analysis / bioinformatic ortholog identification in P. falciparum

   PMID:15155803

   Open questions at the time

   • computational assignment only, with no functional experiment in Plasmodium
   • membership in an assembled TOM complex not demonstrated
   • no localization data for the protein itself
2. 2025 Low

   To move beyond sequence prediction, native complexomics tested which complexes PF3D7_0823700 associates with, showing it co-migrates with both the TOM complex and the EMC and raising the hypothesis that it serves as an ER-mitochondrion tether in place of the absent yeast TOM5.

   Evidence native gel electrophoresis / complexomics co-migration with AlphaFold prediction and multiple sequence alignment in P. falciparum

   PMID:39747010

   Open questions at the time

   • single co-migration observation without direct functional validation of a tethering role
   • structural similarity to TOM5 is predicted, not experimentally confirmed
   • no genetic or biochemical test of ER-mitochondrion contact function

• Whether PF3D7_0823700 is functionally required for mitochondrial protein import and whether it physically tethers the ER to the mitochondrion remain untested.
• no knockout/knockdown phenotype established
• no reconstitution or interaction assay confirming the proposed EMC-mitochondrion bridge
• import substrate dependence on PF3D7_0823700 not tested