TbRAP1's dsDNA binding activity plays an important role in subtelomeric gene expression regulation
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Trypanosoma brucei brucei
PROVIDER: GSE147734 | GEO | 2020/09/18
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:We examine the function of the TbRAP1 Myb domain in gene expression regulation in Trypanosoma brucei that causes human African trypanosomiasis. TbRAP1 is required for normal VSG monoallelic expression, a key aspect of antigenic variation that is used by T. brucei to evade the host immune response.
2020-02-26 | GSE143456 | GEO
Project description:Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite that causes human African trypanosomiasis. Its major surface antigen VSG is expressed from subtelomeric loci in a strictly monoallelic manner. We previously showed that the telomere protein TbRAP1 binds dsDNA through its 737RKRRR741 patch to silence VSGs globally. How TbRAP1 permits transcription of the single active VSG is unknown. Through NMR structural analysis, we unexpectedly identify an RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) in TbRAP1, which is unprecedented for RAP1 homologs. Assisted by the 737RKRRR741 patch, TbRAP1 RRM recognizes consensus sequences of VSG 3’UTRs in vitro and binds the active VSG RNA in vivo. Mutating conserved RRM residues abolishes the RNA binding activity, significantly decreases the active VSG RNA level, and derepresses silent VSGs. The competition between TbRAP1’s RNA and dsDNA binding activities suggests a novel mechanism of monoallelic expression, in which the active VSG’s abundant RNA antagonizes TbRAP1’s silencing effect, thereby sustaining its full-level transcription.
2023-02-17 | GSE193394 | GEO
Project description:Trypanosoma brucei parasites successfully evade the host immune system by periodically switching the dense coat of Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSG) at the cell surface. Each parasite expresses VSGs in a monoallelic fashion that is tightly regulated. The consequences of exposing multiple VSGs during an infection in terms of antibody response and disease severity remain unknown. In this study, we overexpressed a high mobility group box protein, TDP1, which was sufficient to open the chromatin of silent VSG expression sites, to disrupt VSG monoallelic expression and to generate viable and healthy parasites with a mixed VSG coat. Mice infected with these parasites mounted a multi-VSG antibody response, which rapidly reduced parasitemia. Consequently, we observed a prolonged mice survival in which nearly 90% of the mice survived a 30-day period infection with undetectable parasitemia. Immunodeficient RAG2 knock-out mice were unable to control the infection with TDP1-overexpressing parasites, showing that the adaptive immune response is critical to reduce disease severity. This study shows that simultaneous exposure of multiple VSGs is highly detrimental for the parasite even at the very early stages of infection, suggesting that drugs that disrupt VSG monoallelic expression could be used to treat trypanosomiasis.
2019-09-13 | PXD014803 | Pride
Project description:The host range of African trypanosomes is influenced by innate protective molecules in the blood of primates. A subfraction of human high-density lipoprotein (HDL) containing apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein L-I, and haptoglobin-related protein is toxic to Trypanosoma brucei brucei but not the human sleeping sickness parasite Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. It is thought that T. b. rhodesiense evolved from a T. b. brucei-like ancestor and expresses a defense protein that ablates the antitrypanosomal activity of human HDL. To directly investigate this possibility, we developed an in vitro selection to generate human HDL-resistant T. b. brucei. Here we show that conversion of T. b. brucei from human HDL sensitive to resistant correlates with changes in the expression of the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) and abolished uptake of the cytotoxic human HDLs. Complete transcriptome analysis of the HDL-susceptible and -resistant trypanosomes confirmed that VSG switching had occurred but failed to reveal the expression of other genes specifically associated with human HDL resistance, including the serum resistance-associated gene (SRA) of T. b. rhodesiense. In addition, we found that while the original active expression site was still utilized, expression of three expression site-associated genes (ESAG) was altered in the HDL-resistant trypanosomes. These findings demonstrate that resistance to human HDLs can be acquired by T. b. brucei. Keywords: Trypanosoma, VSG, antigenic switching, HDL-resistance
2007-07-04 | GSE8369 | GEO
Project description:T. brucei regularly switches its major surface antigen, VSG, to evade the mammalian host immune response. VSGs are expressed from subtelomeric loci in a strictly monoallelic manner. We identify POLIE as an intrinsic component of the T. brucei telomere complex and examined the effect of POLIE depletion on VSG expression regulation by RNAseq.
2022-01-07 | GSE182941 | GEO
Project description:The host range of African trypanosomes is influenced by innate protective molecules in the blood of primates. A subfraction of human high-density lipoprotein (HDL) containing apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein L-I, and haptoglobin-related protein is toxic to Trypanosoma brucei brucei but not the human sleeping sickness parasite Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. It is thought that T. b. rhodesiense evolved from a T. b. brucei-like ancestor and expresses a defense protein that ablates the antitrypanosomal activity of human HDL. To directly investigate this possibility, we developed an in vitro selection to generate human HDL-resistant T. b. brucei. Here we show that conversion of T. b. brucei from human HDL sensitive to resistant correlates with changes in the expression of the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) and abolished uptake of the cytotoxic human HDLs. Complete transcriptome analysis of the HDL-susceptible and -resistant trypanosomes confirmed that VSG switching had occurred but failed to reveal the expression of other genes specifically associated with human HDL resistance, including the serum resistance-associated gene (SRA) of T. b. rhodesiense. In addition, we found that while the original active expression site was still utilized, expression of three expression site-associated genes (ESAG) was altered in the HDL-resistant trypanosomes. These findings demonstrate that resistance to human HDLs can be acquired by T. b. brucei. Keywords: Trypanosoma, VSG, antigenic switching, HDL-resistance Bloodstream stages of the Lister strain 427 T. b. brucei (MiTat 1.2), expressing VSG221, were used in these studies. Cells were cultured in HMI-9 medium with the addition of heat inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) (10%) and Serum Plus (10%). T. b. brucei 427-221 is an antigenically stable line and contains a single copy of the vsg221 gene within the 221 expression site (221ES). At a cell density of approximately 1,000,000 cells/ml, T. b. brucei 427-221 were exposed to various amounts of human HDLs for 24 h in a 6 well plate. Surviving trypanosomes were counted using a hemocytometer then diluted into fresh HMI-9 medium and allowed to recover for 5-14 days. Once the cells had grown to a density of approximately 1,000,000 cells/ml, they were once again incubated with human HDLs. Each round of selection was performed with increasing concentrations of human HDLs and freezer stocks were prepared for each surviving population. Over nine months we conducted eight rounds of human HDL selection, resulting in a population of T. b. brucei that survived incubation with 800 μl of human HDLs (160 lytic U).
2007-07-04 | E-GEOD-8369 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:study of subtelomeric VSG array evolution in Trypanosoma brucei
| PRJEB2167 | ENA
Project description:Antigenic variation is employed by many pathogens to evade the host immune response, and Trypanosoma brucei has evolved a complex system to achieve this phenotype, involving sequential use of variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes encoded from a large repertoire of ~2,000 alleles. T. brucei express multiple, sometimes closely related, VSGs in a population at any one time, and the ability to resolve and analyse this diversity has been limited. We applied long read sequencing (PacBio) to VSG amplicons generated from blood extracted from batches of mice sacrificed at time points (days 3, 6, 10 and 12) post-infection with T. brucei TREU927. The data showed that long read sequencing is reliable for resolving allelic differences between VSGs, and demonstrated that there is significant expressed diversity (449 VSGs detected across 20 mice) and across the timeframe of study there was a clear semi-reproducible pattern of expressed diversity (median of 27 VSGs per sample at day 3 post infection (p.i.), 82 VSGs at day 6 p.i., 187 VSGs at day 10 p.i. and 132 VSGs by day 12 p.i.). There was also consistent detection of one VSG dominating expression across replicates at days 3 and 6, and emergence of a second dominant VSG across replicates by day 12, providing further evidence for hierarchical VSG expression, a conclusion that was confirmed by the novel application of diversity analysis to VSG expression. Our results indicate that long read analysis is a reliable tool for resolving diverse allele expression profiles, and provides novel insights into the complexity and nature of VSG expression in trypanosomes, revealing significantly higher diversity than previously shown and identifying mosaic gene formation unprecedentedly early during the infection process.
2018-11-01 | GSE114843 | GEO
Project description:Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 bloodstream forms were cultured in HMI-11 medium. Total RNA was prepared using Qiagen RNAeasy kits for single sample RNAseq to estimate VSG mRNA abundance (and not to reconstruct the transcriptome). The cDNA libraries were prepared and sequenced at the Beijing Genomics Institute (Shenzhen, China). Polyadenylated RNA was purified from total RNA, converted to cDNA using random hexamer primers sheared and size selected for fragments ~200 bp in length using the Illumina TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v2. RNAseq of the resulting libraries was used for the determination of transcript abundances. Sequencing was performed on an Illumina Hiseq 2000 (Illumina, CA) platform and 90 base paired end reads obtained. Four samples were analysed: 1. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG2 2. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 3. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 and a VSG2 transgender located in the active bloodstream expression site 28 days after electroporation 4. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 and a VSG2 transgender located in the active bloodstream expression site 44 days after electroporation.
2020-06-03 | E-MTAB-9122 | biostudies-arrayexpress