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Epigenetic mechanisms, nuclear architecture and the control of gene expression in trypanosomes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2012

Sam Alsford ,
Kelly duBois ,
David Horn  and
Mark C. Field
Sam Alsford
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Kelly duBois
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
David Horn
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Mark C. Field*
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Mark C. Field, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, UK. E-mail: mcf34@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

The control of gene expression, and more significantly gene cohorts, requires tight transcriptional coordination and is an essential feature of probably all cells. In higher eukaryotes, the mechanisms used involve controlled modifications to both local and global DNA environments, principally through changes in chromatin structure as well as cis-element-driven mechanisms. Although the mechanisms regulating chromatin in terms of transcriptional permissiveness and the relation to developmental programmes and responses to the environment are becoming better understood for animal and fungal cells, it is only just beginning to become clear how these processes operate in other taxa, including the trypanosomatids. Recent advances are now illuminating how African trypanosomes regulate higher-order chromatin structure, and, further, how these mechanisms impact on the expression of major surface antigens that are of fundamental importance to life-cycle progression. It is now apparent that several mechanisms are rather more similar between animal and fungal cells and trypanosomes than it originally appeared, but some aspects do involve gene products unique to trypanosomes. Therefore, both evolutionarily common and novel mechanisms cohabit in trypanosomes, offering both important biological insights and possible therapeutic opportunity.

Type
Review Article
Information
Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine , Volume 14 , March 2012 , e13
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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Further reading, resources and contacts

DuBois, K.N. et al. (2012) NUP-1 Is a large coiled-coil nucleoskeletal protein in trypanosomes with lamin-like functions. PLoS Biology (in press)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siegel, T.N. et al. (2009) Four histone variants mark the boundaries of polycistronic transcription units in Trypanosoma brucei. Genes and Development 23, 1063-1076CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, X. et al. (2009) RAP1 is essential for silencing telomeric variant surface glycoprotein genes in Trypanosoma brucei. Cell 137, 99-109CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed