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The expression of the major shed Trypanosoma cruzi antigen results from the developmentally‐regulated transcription of a small gene family
Author(s) -
Affranchino José L.,
Pollevick Guido D.,
Frasch Alberto C.C.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(91)80320-3
Subject(s) - biology , gene , genetics , trypanosoma cruzi , transcription (linguistics) , nuclease , gene family , northern blot , telomere , southern blot , gene expression , microbiology and biotechnology , parasite hosting , linguistics , philosophy , world wide web , computer science
To better understand the mechanisms involved in the developmental expression of Trypanosoma cruzi antigens we examined the gene structure and transcription properties of the major shed trypomastigote (SAPA). We report in this paper that SAPA is encoded by a small family of at least 6 genes which differ mainly in the length of a repeat region made up of tandemly arranged 36‐bp repeat units. SAPA genes are located distant from chromosomal telomeres as inferred from their insensitivity to Ba131 nuclease treatment. Furthermore, Northern blot and S1 protection analyses strongly support the fact that most (or all) SAPA genes are transcribed in the infective form of the parasite.