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Release 14.1
Pathogen: Trypanosoma brucei

In contrast to many other eukaryotic parasites that evade immune recognition by invading host cells, typanosomes remain exposed to the immune system throughout their life cycle. To disguise itself from immune receptors, the parasite coats itself with a large of immunogenic VSG proteins that provide an antigenically variable shield while creating a barrier to protect more conserved surface proteins. T. brucei devotes a considerable portion of its genome and metabolism to antigenic variation and demonstrates perhaps its most sophisticated form.

Name: Trypanosoma brucei
Pathogen type: Protist
Description: Protozaon responsible for for trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness)
Lineage: Eukaryota » Euglenozoa » Kinetoplastida » Trypanosomatidae » Trypanosoma » Trypanozoon » Trypanosoma brucei
Life cycle: transferred in Tsetse fly midgut and salivary gland
Chromosomes: 11 pairs of megabase chromosomes (0.9-5.7 Mb), intermediate (300-900 kb), and minichromosomes (50-100kb)
GC content: 50.73
Bases: 35Mb
Genome: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/T_brucei/
KEGG: tbr
Pathway: tbr05143

References
Berriman M, Ghedin E, Hertz-Fowler C, Blandin G, Renauld H, Bartholomeu DC, Lennard NJ, Caler E, Hamlin NE, Haas B, Böhme U, Hannick L, Aslett MA, Shallom J, Marcello L, Hou L, Wickstead B, Alsmark UC, Arrowsmith C, Atkin RJ, Barron AJ, Bringaud F, Brooks K, Carrington M, Cherevach I, Chillingworth TJ, Churcher C, Clark LN, Corton CH, Cronin A, Davies RM, Doggett J, Djikeng A, Feldblyum T, Field MC, Fraser A, Goodhead I, Hance Z, Harper D, Harris BR, Hauser H, Hostetler J, Ivens A, Jagels K, Johnson D, Johnson J, Jones K, Kerhornou AX, Koo H, Larke N, Landfear S, Larkin C, Leech V, Line A, Lord A, Macleod A, Mooney PJ, Moule S, Martin DM, Morgan GW, Mungall K, Norbertczak H, Ormond D, Pai G, Peacock CS, Peterson J, Quail MA, Rabbinowitsch E, Rajandream MA, Reitter C, Salzberg SL, Sanders M, Schobel S, Sharp S, Simmonds M, Simpson AJ, Tallon L, Turner CM, Tait A, Tivey AR, Van Aken S, Walker D, Wanless D, Wang S, White B, White O, Whitehead S, Woodward J, Wortman J, Adams MD, Embley TM, Gull K, Ullu E, Barry JD, Fairlamb AH, Opperdoes F, Barrell BG, Donelson JE, Hall N, Fraser CM, Melville SE, El-Sayed NM. 2005. The genome of the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei. Science (New York, N.Y.) 309:416-22. (16020726)
Pays E, Vanhamme L, Pérez-Morga D. 2004. Antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei: facts, challenges and mysteries. Current opinion in microbiology 7:369-74. (15288623)
Wickstead B, Ersfeld K, Gull K. 2004. The small chromosomes of Trypanosoma brucei involved in antigenic variation are constructed around repetitive palindromes. Genome research 14:1014-24. (15173109)
Taylor JE, Rudenko G. 2006. Switching trypanosome coats: what's in the wardrobe? Trends in genetics : TIG 22:614-20. (16908087)
Callejas S, Leech V, Reitter C, Melville S. 2006. Hemizygous subtelomeres of an African trypanosome chromosome may account for over 75% of chromosome length. Genome research 16:1109-18. (16899654)

Last modified: 1? 14, 2013



Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
System last updated Thu, January 24, 2013 14:25:29 JST / SVN revision: 1054
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