Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>The <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum</jats:italic> genome encodes a single calpain. By generating <jats:italic>P. falciparum</jats:italic> clones expressing C‐terminally tagged calpain, we localized this protein to the nucleolus. Pf_calpain possesses an unusual and long N‐terminal domain in which we identified three subregions that are highly conserved among <jats:italic>Plasmodium</jats:italic> species. Two have putative targeting signals: a myristoylation motif and a nuclear localization sequence. We assessed their functionality. Our data show that the nuclear localization sequence is an active nuclear import motif that contains an embedded signal conferring nucleolar localization on various chimeras. The N‐terminus is myristoylated at Gly2 and palmitoylated at Cys3 and Cys22. Palmitoylation status has an important role in dictating <jats:italic>P. falciparum</jats:italic> calpain localization. The targeting signals function in mammalian cells as well as in the parasite. <jats:italic>P. falciparum</jats:italic> calpain is a unique nucleolar protein with an interesting mechanism of targeting.</jats:p>