Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 26(113), p. 7225-7230, 2016

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600344113

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

VEX1 controls the allelic exclusion required for antigenic variation in trypanosomes

Journal article published in 2016 by Lucy Glover ORCID, Sebastian Hutchinson, Sam Alsford ORCID, David Horn
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Significance Despite intense interest over a period of decades, mechanisms of allelic exclusion have remained unsolved mysteries in the field of eukaryotic gene expression control. Parasitic African trypanosomes express variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) in a monoallelic fashion and have long been a paradigm for studies in this area. We used an RNA interference screen for loss of exclusion and identified and characterized VSG exclusion 1 (VEX1). VEX1 sequestration restricts expression and prevents the simultaneous establishment of more than one active VSG gene. VEX1 also appears to reinforce sequestration-based exclusion through homology-dependent repression. Our results indicate a “winner-takes-all” mechanism that allows parasitic trypanosomes to express just one VSG gene at a time.