Publication Date:
2015-03-31
Description:
Trypanosoma brucei, a causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness, constantly changes its dense variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat to avoid elimination by the immune system of its mammalian host, using an extensive repertoire of dedicated genes. However, the dynamics of VSG expression in T. brucei during an infection are poorly understood. We have developed a method, based on de novo assembly of VSGs, for quantitatively examining the diversity of expressed VSGs in any population of trypanosomes and monitored VSG population dynamics in vivo. Our experiments revealed unexpected diversity within parasite populations and a mechanism for diversifying the genome-encoded VSG repertoire. The interaction between T. brucei and its host is substantially more dynamic and nuanced than previously expected.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4514441/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉 〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4514441/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mugnier, Monica R -- Cross, George A M -- Papavasiliou, F Nina -- AI085973/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI085973/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI097127/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 27;347(6229):1470-3. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa4502.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Lymphocyte Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. ; Laboratory of Lymphocyte Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. papavasiliou@rockefeller.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814582" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Antigenic Variation
;
Host-Parasite Interactions/*immunology
;
Humans
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred BALB C
;
Trypanosoma brucei brucei/*immunology
;
Trypanosomiasis, African/*immunology
;
Variant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma/*immunology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
