ArticlePLoS biology2008
A histone methyltransferase modulates antigenic variation in African trypanosomes.
Article in PLoS biology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers.
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Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 182 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- A factor integrating transcription and repression of surface antigen genes in African trypanosomes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Cleavage Under Targets and Release Using Nuclease (CUT&RUN) for Trypanosoma brucei Parasites.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Histone post-translational modifications of Leishmania braziliensis.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Key Regulators of Parasite Biology Viewed Through a Post-Translational Modification Repertoire.Proteomics · 2025Review
- A non-coding role for trypanosome VSG transcripts in allelic exclusion.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Precision-edited histone tails disrupt polycistronic gene expression controls in trypanosomes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Inter-chromosomal transcription hubs shape the 3D genome architecture of African trypanosomes.Nature communications · 2024Article
- TelAP2 links TelAP1 to the telomere complex in Trypanosoma brucei.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Two DOT1 enzymes cooperatively mediate efficient ubiquitin-independent histone H3 lysine 76 tri-methylation in kinetoplastids.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Unwrap RAP1's Mystery at Kinetoplastid Telomeres.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- The histone methyltransferase DOT1B is dispensable for stage differentiation and macrophage infection ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Immunoprecipitation of RNA-DNA hybrid interacting proteins in Trypanosoma brucei reveals conserved and novel activities, including in the control of surface antigen expression needed for immune evasion by antigenic variation.Nucleic acids research · 2023Article
- Decoding the impact of nuclear organization on antigenic variation in parasites.Nature microbiology · 2023Review
- Chemical Inhibition of Bromodomain Proteins in Insect-Stage African Trypanosomes Perturbs Silencing of the Variant Surface Glycoprotein Repertoire and Results in Widespread Changes in the Transcriptome.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Advances in Protozoan Epigenetic Targets and Their Inhibitors for the Development of New Potential Drugs.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Stage-specific transcription activator ESB1 regulates monoallelic antigen expression in Trypanosoma brucei.Nature microbiology · 2022Article
- Characterization of Host-Specific Genes from Pine- and Grass-Associated Species of thePathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
To evade the host immune system, several pathogens periodically change their cell-surface epitopes. In the African trypanosomes, antigenic variation is achieved by tightly regulating the expression of a multigene family encoding a large repertoire of variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs). Immune evasion relies on two important features: exposing a single type of VSG at the cell surface and periodically and very rapidly switching the expressed VSG. Transcriptional switching between resident telomeric VSG genes does not involve DNA rearrangements, and regulation is probably epigenetic. The histone methyltransferase DOT1B is a nonessential protein that trimethylates lysine 76 of histone H3 in Trypanosoma brucei. Here we report that transcriptionally silent telomeric VSGs become partially derepressed when DOT1B is deleted, whereas nontelomeric loci are unaffected. DOT1B also is involved in the kinetics of VSG switching: in DeltaDOT1B cells, the transcriptional switch is so slow that cells expressing two VSGs persist for several weeks, indicating that monoallelic transcription is compromised. We conclude that DOT1B is required to maintain strict VSG silencing and to ensure rapid transcriptional VSG switching, demonstrating that epigenetics plays an important role in regulating antigenic variation in T. brucei.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.