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Trypanosoma brucei: a surface antigen mRNA is discontinuously transcribed from two distinct chromosomes.
Author(s) -
Guyaux M.,
Cornelissen A.W.,
Pays E.,
Steinert M.,
Borst P.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03729.x
Subject(s) - trypanosoma brucei , biology , gene , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , messenger rna , sequence (biology)
The mRNAs for variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) and many other proteins in Trypanosoma brucei start with the same sequence of 35 nucleotides, encoded by a separate mini‐exon. There are approximately 200 mini‐exon genes per trypanosome and these are highly clustered on large chromosomes. We have found two trypanosome variants that express a VSG gene located on a small, 225‐kb chromosome. Each gene yields a mRNA containing the 35‐nucleotide sequence even though the 225‐kb chromosome does not contain a complete mini‐exon gene. These results provide a strong support for the hypothesis that transcription of protein‐coding genes in trypanosomes is discontinuous.