Joana Faria

Abstract Antigenic variation is an immune evasion strategy used by pathogens, including Trypanosoma brucei. This parasite expresses a single variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) from a large genetic repertoire, which it periodically switches throughout an infection. VSGs are co-transcribed with expression-site-associated genes (ESAGs) within a specialized nuclear body, but there is substantial differential expression and the regulatory mechanisms remain unclear.

Abstract Transcription of protein coding genes in trypanosomatids is atypical and almost exclusively polycistronic. In Trypanosoma brucei, approximately 150 polycistrons, and 8000 genes, are constitutively transcribed by RNA polymerase II. RNA polymerase II promoters are unconventional and characterised by regions of chromatin enriched for histones with specific patterns of post-translational modification on their highly divergent N-terminal tails.

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