Regulation of antigen gene expression in Trypanosoma brucei

Abstract

The trypanosome genome is organized into long polycistronic units that seem to be permanently transcribed in proliferative stages of the parasite. Cellular differentiation is controlled primarily at the level of individual mRNA maturation and stability. The transcription units of the two major stage-specific antigens, the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) of the bloodstream form and procyclin of the procyclic form, are subject to an additional layer of control: the mutually exclusive activation of RNA elongation and processing. The high recombination frequency prevailing in the telomere that harbours the active VSG expression site has been exploited by the parasite to both drive antigenic variation and generate VSG-based adaptive proteins.