DNA damage drives antigen diversification through mosaic Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) formation in Trypanosoma brucei.

ABSTRACT: Antigenic variation, using large genomic repertoires of antigen-encoding genes, allows pathogens to evade host antibody. Many pathogens, including the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei, extend their antigenic repertoire through genomic diversification. While evidence suggests that T. brucei depends on the generation of new variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes to maintain a chronic infection, a lack of experimentally tractable tools for studying this process has obscured its underlying mechanisms. Here, we present a highly sensitive targeted sequencing approach for measuring VSG diversification. Using this method, we demonstrate that a Cas9-induced DNA double-strand break within the VSG coding sequence can induce VSG recombination with patterns identical to those obse

SUBMITTER: Smith JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11383311 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature