Two phylogenetically and compartmentally distinct CDP-diacylglycerol synthases cooperate for lipid biogenesis in .

is among the most prevalent protozoan parasites, which infects a wide range of organisms, including one-third of the human population. Its rapid intracellular replication within a vacuole requires efficient synthesis of glycerophospholipids. Cytidine diphosphate-diacylglycerol (CDP-DAG) serves as a major precursor for phospholipid synthesis. Given the peculiarities of lipid biogenesis, understanding the mechanism and physiological importance of CDP-DAG synthesis is particularly relevant in Here, we report the occurrence of two phylogenetically divergent CDP-DAG synthase (CDS) enzymes in the parasite. The eukaryotic-type CDS1 and the prokaryotic-type CDS2 reside in the endoplasmic reticulum and apicoplast, respectively. Conditional knockdown of CDS1 severely attenuated the parasite growth and resulted in a nearly complete loss of virulence in a mouse model. Moreover, mice infected with the CDS1 mutant became fully resistant to challenge infection with a hyper-virulent strain of The residual growth of the CDS1 mutant was abolished by consecutive deletion of CDS2. Lipidomic analyses of the two mutants revealed significant and specific declines in phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylglycerol levels upon repression of CDS1 and after deletion of CDS2, respectively. Our data suggest a "division of labor" model of lipid biogenesis in in which two discrete CDP-DAG pools produced in the endoplasmic reticulum and apicoplast are subsequently used for the synthesis of phosphatidylinositol in the Golgi bodies and phosphatidylglycerol in the mitochondria. The essential and divergent nature of CDP-DAG synthesis in the parasite apicoplast offers a potential drug target to inhibit the asexual reproduction of .