Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (132K) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Graham, S. V.
Right arrow Articles by Barry, J. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Graham, S. V.
Right arrow Articles by Barry, J. D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, Vol 26, Issue 8 1985-1990, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press

ARTICLES

A trypanosome metacyclic VSG gene promoter with two functionally distinct, life cycle stage-specific activities

SV Graham, B Wymer and JD Barry
Wellcome Unit of Molecular Parasitology, University of Glasgow, Anderson College, 56 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6NU, UK.

In the mammalian bloodstream, African trypanosomes express the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), continual switching of which allows evasion of the host immune response. Bloodstream VSG genes are transcribed from polycistronic bloodstream expression sites with promoters which are located 45-60 kb upstream. These promoters are not exclusively stage- regulated, being active in the insect midgut stage where VSG is not expressed. However, the metacyclic VSG (M-VSG) genes, a small subset activated when VSG synthesis begins in the metacyclic stage in the tsetse fly salivary glands, are transcriptionally activated specifically in that stage from promoters <3 kb upstream. Using deletion mapping and transient transfection, we show that the entire 1.22 M-VSG gene promoter region (171 bp) is required for full activity in metacyclic-derived trypanosomes. However, a subsidiary, bloodstream stage-specific activity is present in its 5' half which directs transcription initiation very close to the initiation site used in metacyclic-derived trypanosomes. Our results imply that the M-VSG gene promoter is longer and more complex than other VSG gene promoters.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eukaryot CellHome page
M. L. Ginger, P. A. Blundell, A. M. Lewis, A. Browitt, A. Gunzl, and J. D. Barry
Ex Vivo and In Vitro Identification of a Consensus Promoter for VSG Genes Expressed by Metacyclic-Stage Trypanosomes in the Tsetse Fly
Eukaryot. Cell, December 1, 2002; 1(6): 1000 - 1009.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
M. Berberof, L. Vanhamme, S. Alexandre, S. Lips, P. Tebabi, and E. Pays
A single-stranded DNA-binding protein shared by telomeric repeats, the variant surface glycoprotein transcription promoter and the procyclin transcription terminator of Trypanosoma brucei
Nucleic Acids Res., January 15, 2000; 28(2): 597 - 604.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.