Regulation of gene expression by transcription elongation in trypanosomes

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.

Project objective

The African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei, the cause of sleeping sickness in man and N'gana in livestock is able to evade the host's immune defence by changing its variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat. The trypanosome's reliance upon antigenic variation for survival means that understanding the control of VSG gene expression is of vital importance in combating this parasite. Control of VSG synthesis in insect form trypanosomes is part of this process and appears to be dictated by conditional transcription elongation. I propose to investigate VSG transcription attenuation in vivo using DNA transfection techniques, how attenuation becomes established upon differentiation from the bloodstream to the insect stage of the life-cycle, and the mechanism underlying this form of transcriptional control. In addition, I will begin a search for other examples of this type of regulated gene expression and attempt to identify the signals for transcription termination in trypanosomes.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• Nederlands Kanker Instituut · AmsterdamCoordinatorNetherlands
• Not availableCity levelUnited Kingdom

Links

• View on CORDIS