[HTML][HTML] Emergence and adaptation of the cellular machinery directing antigenic variation in the African trypanosome

J Faria, EM Briggs, JA Black, R McCulloch - Current opinion in …, 2022 - Elsevier
Survival of the African trypanosome within its mammalian hosts, and hence transmission
between hosts, relies upon antigenic variation, where stochastic changes in the composition …

Living organisms author their read-write genomes in evolution

JA Shapiro - Biology, 2017 - mdpi.com
Evolutionary variations generating phenotypic adaptations and novel taxa resulted from
complex cellular activities altering genome content and expression:(i) Symbiogenetic cell …

Profiling the bloodstream form and procyclic form Trypanosoma brucei cell cycle using single-cell transcriptomics

EM Briggs, CA Marques, GR Oldrieve, J Hu, TD Otto… - Elife, 2023 - elifesciences.org
African trypanosomes proliferate as bloodstream forms (BSFs) and procyclic forms in the
mammal and tsetse fly midgut, respectively. This allows them to colonise the host …

Changing of the guard: How the Lyme disease spirochete subverts the host immune response

G Chaconas, M Castellanos, TB Verhey - Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2020 - ASBMB
Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is the most common tick-transmitted disease
in the Northern Hemisphere. The disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia …

G-quadruplex identification in the genome of protozoan parasites points to naphthalene diimide ligands as new antiparasitic agents

E Belmonte-Reche, M Martínez-García… - Journal of Medicinal …, 2018 - ACS Publications
G-quadruplexes (G4) are DNA secondary structures that take part in the regulation of gene
expression. Putative G4 forming sequences (PQS) have been reported in mammals, yeast …

RAD51-mediated R-loop formation acts to repair transcription-associated DNA breaks driving antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei

MJ Girasol, M Krasilnikova… - Proceedings of the …, 2023 - National Acad Sciences
RNA–DNA hybrids are epigenetic features of all genomes that intersect with many
processes, including transcription, telomere homeostasis, and centromere function …

Initiation of homologous recombination at DNA nicks

N Maizels, L Davis - Nucleic acids research, 2018 - academic.oup.com
Discontinuities in only a single strand of the DNA duplex occur frequently, as a result of DNA
damage or as intermediates in essential nuclear processes and DNA repair. Nicks are the …

Ribonuclease H1-targeted R-loops in surface antigen gene expression sites can direct trypanosome immune evasion

E Briggs, K Crouch, L Lemgruber, C Lapsley… - PLoS …, 2018 - journals.plos.org
Switching of the Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) in Trypanosoma brucei provides a
crucial host immune evasion strategy that is catalysed both by transcription and …

Trypanosoma brucei ribonuclease H2A is an essential R-loop processing enzyme whose loss causes DNA damage during transcription initiation and antigenic …

E Briggs, K Crouch, L Lemgruber… - Nucleic Acids …, 2019 - academic.oup.com
Ribonucleotides represent a threat to DNA genome stability and transmission. Two types of
Ribonuclease H (RNase H) excise ribonucleotides when they form part of the DNA strand, or …

Emerging challenges in understanding trypanosome antigenic variation

R McCulloch, CA Cobbold, L Figueiredo… - Emerging topics in …, 2017 - portlandpress.com
Many pathogens evade host immunity by periodically changing the proteins they express on
their surface—a phenomenon termed antigenic variation. An extreme form of antigenic …