Variant antigen diversity in Trypanosoma vivax is not driven by recombination.

ABSTRACT: African trypanosomes (Trypanosoma) are vector-borne haemoparasites that survive in the vertebrate bloodstream through antigenic variation of their Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG). Recombination, or rather segmented gene conversion, is fundamental in Trypanosoma brucei for both VSG gene switching and for generating antigenic diversity during infections. Trypanosoma vivax is a related, livestock pathogen whose VSG lack structures that facilitate gene conversion in T. brucei and mechanisms underlying its antigenic diversity are poorly understood. Here we show that species-wide VSG repertoire is broadly conserved across diverse T. vivax clinical strains and has limited antigenic repertoire. We use variant antigen profiling, coalescent approaches and experimental infections to show that reco

SUBMITTER: Silva Pereira S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7015903 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature