A role for RAD51 and homologous recombination in Trypanosoma brucei antigenic variation.

ABSTRACT: Antigenic variation is an immune evasion strategy used by African trypanosomes, in which the parasites periodically switch the expression of VSG genes that encode their protective variant surface glycoprotein coat. Two main routes exist for VSG switching: changing the transcriptional status between an active and an inactive copy of the site of VSG expression, called the bloodstream VSG expression site, or recombination reactions that move silent VSGs or VSG copies into the actively transcribed expression site. Nothing is known about the proteins that control and catalyze these switching reactions. This study describes the cloning of a trypanosome gene encoding RAD51, an enzyme involved in DNA break repair and genetic exchange, and analysis of the role of the enzyme in antigenic variation.

SUBMITTER: McCulloch R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC317127 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature