SEC62

PF3D7_1438100 (SEC62) is a P. falciparum protein known in the available corpus only through computational prediction. Bioinformatic analysis of the parasite genome identified it as a homologue of Sec62, placing it as a predicted component of the ER Sec translocation complex (Sec61αβγ/Sec62/Sec63) implicated in post- and co-translational protein translocation across the ER membrane (PMID:17919451). A subsequent computational study identified predicted autophagy-interacting motifs (AIM/LIR motifs) in SEC62 that dock with PfAtg8, raising the possibility of a role as an ER-resident autophagy receptor for recovER-phagy (PMID:31608276). Beyond these two computational predictions (PMID:17919451, PMID:31608276), no experimental validation of SEC62's translocation function, interactions, or autophagy receptor role in the parasite has been reported in the available corpus.

1. 2007 Low

   Before any parasite-specific study, it was unknown whether P. falciparum encodes a Sec62 component of the ER translocation machinery; genome analysis established SEC62 as a predicted member of the Sec translocation complex.

   Evidence Bioinformatics/computational genome analysis of the P. falciparum genome

   PMID:17919451

   Open questions at the time

   • Purely computational homology prediction; no experimental confirmation of expression, localization, or translocation function in the parasite
   • Membership in the Sec61/Sec62/Sec63 complex not demonstrated biochemically
   • No evidence distinguishing SEC62 from sibling Sec-family members
2. 2019 Low

   It was unknown whether SEC62 could link the ER to autophagy in P. falciparum; in silico docking predicted AIM/LIR motifs mediating an interaction with PfAtg8, proposing SEC62 as a candidate recovER-phagy receptor.

   Evidence Computational peptide-protein docking, molecular dynamics and steered MD simulations, and free energy calculations

   PMID:31608276

   Open questions at the time

   • Entirely computational; predicted SEC62–PfAtg8 interaction not tested in vitro or in vivo
   • No demonstration that SEC62 functions as an autophagy receptor in the parasite
   • recovER-phagy pathway in P. falciparum not experimentally established

• Whether SEC62 physically participates in the P. falciparum Sec translocation complex and/or acts as a PfAtg8-binding autophagy receptor remains experimentally unaddressed.
• No biochemical or genetic validation of translocation function
• No experimental confirmation of the predicted PfAtg8 interaction
• No localization, interaction, or knockout data for the endogenous protein