Trypanosoma brucei homologous recombination is dependent on substrate length and homology, though displays a differential dependence on mismatch repair as substrate length decreases.

ABSTRACT: Homologous recombination functions universally in the maintenance of genome stability through the repair of DNA breaks and in ensuring the completion of replication. In some organisms, homologous recombination can perform more specific functions. One example of this is in antigenic variation, a widely conserved mechanism for the evasion of host immunity. Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of sleeping sickness in Africa, undergoes antigenic variation by periodic changes in its variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat. VSG switches involve the activation of VSG genes, from an enormous silent archive, by recombination into specialized expression sites. These reactions involve homologous recombination, though they are characterized by an unusually high rate of switching and by atypical sub

SUBMITTER: Barnes RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1904282 | biostudies-literature | 2007

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature