@article {49653, title = {Functional genomics of trypanosomatids.}, journal = {Parasite Immunol}, volume = {34}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Feb-Mar}, pages = {72-9}, abstract = {

The decoding of the Tritryp reference genomes nearly 7 years ago provided a first peek into the biology of pathogenic trypanosomatids and a blueprint that has paved the way for genome-wide studies. Although 60-70\% of the predicted protein coding genes in Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major remain unannotated, the functional genomics landscape is rapidly changing. Facilitated by the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, improved structural and functional annotation and genes and their products are emerging. Information is also growing for the interactions between cellular components as transcriptomes, regulatory networks and metabolomes are characterized, ushering in a new era of systems biology. Simultaneously, the launch of comparative sequencing of multiple strains of kinetoplastids will finally lead to the investigation of a vast, yet to be explored, evolutionary and pathogenomic space.

}, keywords = {Animals, Genome, Protozoan, Genomics, HUMANS, Proteome, Protozoan Proteins, Transcriptome, Trypanosomatina}, issn = {1365-3024}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-3024.2011.01347.x}, author = {Choi, J and El-Sayed, N M} } @article {49536, title = {Transcript expression analysis of putative Trypanosoma brucei GPI-anchored surface proteins during development in the tsetse and mammalian hosts.}, volume = {6}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e1708}, abstract = {

Human African Trypanosomiasis is a devastating disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Trypanosomes live extracellularly in both the tsetse fly and the mammal. Trypanosome surface proteins can directly interact with the host environment, allowing parasites to effectively establish and maintain infections. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring is a common posttranslational modification associated with eukaryotic surface proteins. In T. brucei, three GPI-anchored major surface proteins have been identified: variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs), procyclic acidic repetitive protein (PARP or procyclins), and brucei alanine rich proteins (BARP). The objective of this study was to select genes encoding predicted GPI-anchored proteins with unknown function(s) from the T. brucei genome and characterize the expression profile of a subset during cyclical development in the tsetse and mammalian hosts. An initial in silico screen of putative T. brucei proteins by Big PI algorithm identified 163 predicted GPI-anchored proteins, 106 of which had no known functions. Application of a second GPI-anchor prediction algorithm (FragAnchor), signal peptide and trans-membrane domain prediction software resulted in the identification of 25 putative hypothetical proteins. Eighty-one gene products with hypothetical functions were analyzed for stage-regulated expression using semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of most of these genes were found to be upregulated in trypanosomes infecting tsetse salivary gland and proventriculus tissues, and 38\% were specifically expressed only by parasites infecting salivary gland tissues. Transcripts for all of the genes specifically expressed in salivary glands were also detected in mammalian infective metacyclic trypomastigotes, suggesting a possible role for these putative proteins in invasion and/or establishment processes in the mammalian host. These results represent the first large-scale report of the differential expression of unknown genes encoding predicted T. brucei surface proteins during the complete developmental cycle. This knowledge may form the foundation for the development of future novel transmission blocking strategies against metacyclic parasites.

}, keywords = {Animals, Computational Biology, Gastrointestinal Tract, Gene Expression Profiling, GPI-Linked Proteins, HUMANS, Male, Membrane Proteins, Protozoan Proteins, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Salivary Glands, Trypanosoma brucei brucei, Trypanosomiasis, African, Tsetse Flies}, issn = {1935-2735}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0001708}, author = {Savage, Amy F and Cerqueira, Gustavo C and Regmi, Sandesh and Wu, Yineng and El Sayed, Najib M and Aksoy, Serap} } @article {49644, title = {Genomic organization and expression profile of the mucin-associated surface protein (masp) family of the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {37}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Jun}, pages = {3407-17}, abstract = {

A novel large multigene family was recently identified in the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease, and corresponds to approximately 6\% of the parasite diploid genome. The predicted gene products, mucin-associated surface proteins (MASPs), are characterized by highly conserved N- and C-terminal domains and a strikingly variable and repetitive central region. We report here an analysis of the genomic organization and expression profile of masp genes. Masps are not randomly distributed throughout the genome but instead are clustered with genes encoding mucin and other surface protein families. Masp transcripts vary in size, are preferentially expressed during the trypomastigote stage and contain highly conserved 5{\textquoteright} and 3{\textquoteright} untranslated regions. A sequence analysis of a trypomastigote cDNA library reveals the expression of multiple masp variants with a bias towards a particular masp subgroup. Immunofluorescence assays using antibodies generated against a MASP peptide reveals that the expression of particular MASPs at the cell membrane is limited to subsets of the parasite population. Western blots of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC)-treated parasites suggest that MASP may be GPI-anchored and shed into the medium culture, thus contributing to the large repertoire of parasite polypeptides that are exposed to the host immune system.

}, keywords = {3{\textquoteright} Flanking Region, 5{\textquoteright} Flanking Region, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Base Sequence, Conserved Sequence, Gene Expression Profiling, Genes, Protozoan, Genome, Protozoan, Membrane Proteins, Molecular Sequence Data, Mucins, Multigene Family, Protozoan Proteins, RNA, Messenger, Trypanosoma cruzi}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkp172}, author = {Bartholomeu, Daniella C and Cerqueira, Gustavo C and Le{\~a}o, Ana Carolina A and daRocha, Wanderson D and Pais, Fabiano S and Macedo, Camila and Djikeng, Appolinaire and Teixeira, Santuza M R and El-Sayed, Najib M} } @article {38304, title = {Genome sequence of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum}, journal = {NatureNature}, volume = {419}, year = {2002}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12368864?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1038/nature01097}, abstract = {The parasite Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for hundreds of millions of cases of malaria, and kills more than one million African children annually. Here we report an analysis of the genome sequence of P. falciparum clone 3D7. The 23-megabase nuclear genome consists of 14 chromosomes, encodes about 5,300 genes, and is the most (A + T)-rich genome sequenced to date. Genes involved in antigenic variation are concentrated in the subtelomeric regions of the chromosomes. Compared to the genomes of free-living eukaryotic microbes, the genome of this intracellular parasite encodes fewer enzymes and transporters, but a large proportion of genes are devoted to immune evasion and host-parasite interactions. Many nuclear-encoded proteins are targeted to the apicoplast, an organelle involved in fatty-acid and isoprenoid metabolism. The genome sequence provides the foundation for future studies of this organism, and is being exploited in the search for new drugs and vaccines to fight malaria.}, keywords = {Animals, Chromosome Structures, DNA Repair, DNA Replication, DNA, Protozoan, Evolution, Molecular, Genome, Protozoan, HUMANS, Malaria Vaccines, Malaria, Falciparum, Membrane Transport Proteins, Molecular Sequence Data, Plasmodium falciparum, Plastids, Proteome, Protozoan Proteins, Recombination, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, author = {Gardner, Malcolm J. and Hall, Neil and Fung, Eula and White, Owen and Berriman, Matthew and Hyman, Richard W. and Carlton, Jane M. and Pain, Arnab and Nelson, Karen E. and Bowman, Sharen and Paulsen, Ian T. and James, Keith and Eisen, Jonathan A. and Rutherford, Kim and Salzberg, Steven L. and Craig, Alister and Kyes, Sue and Chan, Man-Suen and Nene, Vishvanath and Shallom, Shamira J. and Suh, Bernard and Peterson, Jeremy and Angiuoli, Sam and Pertea, Mihaela and Allen, Jonathan and J. Selengut and Haft, Daniel and Mather, Michael W. and Vaidya, Akhil B. and Martin, David M. A. and Fairlamb, Alan H. and Fraunholz, Martin J. and Roos, David S. and Ralph, Stuart A. and McFadden, Geoffrey I. and Cummings, Leda M. and Subramanian, G. Mani and Mungall, Chris and Venter, J. Craig and Carucci, Daniel J. and Hoffman, Stephen L. and Newbold, Chris and Davis, Ronald W. and Fraser, Claire M. and Barrell, Bart} } @article {49631, title = {A new, expressed multigene family containing a hot spot for insertion of retroelements is associated with polymorphic subtelomeric regions of Trypanosoma brucei.}, journal = {Eukaryot Cell}, volume = {1}, year = {2002}, month = {2002 Feb}, pages = {137-51}, abstract = {

We describe a novel gene family that forms clusters in subtelomeric regions of Trypanosoma brucei chromosomes and partially accounts for the observed clustering of retrotransposons. The ingi and ribosomal inserted mobile element (RIME) non-LTR retrotransposons share 250 bp at both extremities and are the most abundant putatively mobile elements, with about 500 copies per haploid genome. From cDNA clones and subsequently in the T. brucei genomic DNA databases, we identified 52 homologous gene and pseudogene sequences, 16 of which contain a RIME and/or ingi retrotransposon inserted at exactly the same relative position. Here these genes are called the RHS family, for retrotransposon hot spot. Comparison of the protein sequences encoded by RHS genes (21 copies) and pseudogenes (24 copies) revealed a conserved central region containing an ATP/GTP-binding motif and the RIME/ingi insertion site. The RHS proteins share between 13 and 96\% identity, and six subfamilies, RHS1 to RHS6, can be defined on the basis of their divergent C-terminal domains. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses using RHS subfamily-specific immune sera show that RHS proteins are constitutively expressed and occur mainly in the nucleus. Analysis of Genome Survey Sequence databases indicated that the Trypanosoma brucei diploid genome contains about 280 RHS (pseudo)genes. Among the 52 identified RHS (pseudo)genes, 48 copies are in three RHS clusters located in subtelomeric regions of chromosomes Ia and II and adjacent to the active bloodstream form expression site in T. brucei strain TREU927/4 GUTat10.1. RHS genes comprise the remaining sequence of the size-polymorphic "repetitive region" described for T. brucei chromosome I, and a homologous gene family is present in the Trypanosoma cruzi genome.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Base Sequence, Cloning, Molecular, DNA Primers, DNA, Protozoan, Escherichia coli, Genes, Protozoan, Molecular Sequence Data, Multigene Family, Mutagenesis, Insertional, Phylogeny, Polymorphism, Genetic, Protozoan Proteins, Pseudogenes, Retroelements, sequence alignment, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Telomere, Trypanosoma brucei brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi}, issn = {1535-9778}, author = {Bringaud, Frederic and Biteau, Nicolas and Melville, Sara E and Hez, St{\'e}phanie and El-Sayed, Najib M and Leech, Vanessa and Berriman, Matthew and Hall, Neil and Donelson, John E and Baltz, Th{\'e}o} } @article {38492, title = {Sequence of Plasmodium falciparum chromosomes 2, 10, 11 and 14}, journal = {NatureNature}, volume = {419}, year = {2002}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12368868?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1038/nature01094}, abstract = {The mosquito-borne malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum kills an estimated 0.7-2.7 million people every year, primarily children in sub-Saharan Africa. Without effective interventions, a variety of factors-including the spread of parasites resistant to antimalarial drugs and the increasing insecticide resistance of mosquitoes-may cause the number of malaria cases to double over the next two decades. To stimulate basic research and facilitate the development of new drugs and vaccines, the genome of Plasmodium falciparum clone 3D7 has been sequenced using a chromosome-by-chromosome shotgun strategy. We report here the nucleotide sequences of chromosomes 10, 11 and 14, and a re-analysis of the chromosome 2 sequence. These chromosomes represent about 35\% of the 23-megabase P. falciparum genome.}, keywords = {Animals, Chromosomes, DNA, Protozoan, Genome, Protozoan, Plasmodium falciparum, Proteome, Protozoan Proteins, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, author = {Gardner, Malcolm J. and Shallom, Shamira J. and Carlton, Jane M. and Salzberg, Steven L. and Nene, Vishvanath and Shoaibi, Azadeh and Ciecko, Anne and Lynn, Jeffery and Rizzo, Michael and Weaver, Bruce and Jarrahi, Behnam and Brenner, Michael and Parvizi, Babak and Tallon, Luke and Moazzez, Azita and Granger, David and Fujii, Claire and Hansen, Cheryl and Pederson, James and Feldblyum, Tamara and Peterson, Jeremy and Suh, Bernard and Angiuoli, Sam and Pertea, Mihaela and Allen, Jonathan and J. Selengut and White, Owen and Cummings, Leda M. and Smith, Hamilton O. and Adams, Mark D. and Venter, J. Craig and Carucci, Daniel J. and Hoffman, Stephen L. and Fraser, Claire M.} }