ReviewMolecular and biochemical parasitology2014
Antigenic variation in African trypanosomes.
Review in Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 162 papers.
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Who cites it
162 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparative Pathogenicity and Semi-quantitative Multi-organ Histopathology of Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei Infection in Mice.Acta parasitologica · 2026Article
- Endoplasmic reticulum engagement of transcripts triggers VSG mRNA balancing in trypanosomes.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Mechanistic insights into coordinated var transcriptional switching in malaria parasites.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Immunoproteomic Identification and Vaccine Assessment ofVaccines · 2026Article
- The Dual Role of the 16mer Motif Within the 3' Untranslated Region of the Variant Surface Glycoprotein of Trypanosoma brucei.Molecular microbiology · 2026Article
- Pathogenic Significance of Trypanosomatids: Progress in Drug Resistance, Control Strategies, and Artificial Intelligence.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Cure of experimentalmBio · 2025Article
- A non-coding role for trypanosome VSG transcripts in allelic exclusion.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Hidden menace: Understanding the devastating consequences of dourine disease in horses.Open veterinary journal · 2025Review
- scRNA-seq reveals transcriptional plasticity of var gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum for host immune avoidance.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Transforming the chemotherapy of human African trypanosomiasis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Mono-allelic epigenetic regulation of polycistronic transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II inmBio · 2025Article
- Multifunctional roles of Sec13 paralogues in the euglenozoanOpen biology · 2025Article
- Trypanosoma vivax elicits both Th1 and Th2 immunological responses in experimentally infected cattle.PloS one · 2025Article
- Multifunctional Roles of Sec13 Paralogues in the EuglenozoanbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Article
- In vitro trypanocidal activities and structure-activity relationships of ciprofloxacin analogs.Molecular diversity · 2024Article
- Drug resistance in animal trypanosomiases: Epidemiology, mechanisms and control strategies.International journal for parasitology. Drugs and drug resistance · 2024Review
- Protein phosphatase PP1 regulation of RNA polymerase II transcription termination and allelic exclusion of VSG genes in trypanosomes.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
102 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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1 author.
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Abstract
Studies on Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSGs) and antigenic variation in the African trypanosome, Trypanosoma brucei, have yielded a remarkable range of novel and important insights. The features first identified in T. brucei extend from unique to conserved-among-trypanosomatids to conserved-among-eukaryotes. Consequently, much of what we now know about trypanosomatid biology and much of the technology available has its origin in studies related to VSGs. T. brucei is now probably the most advanced early branched eukaryote in terms of experimental tractability and can be approached as a pathogen, as a model for studies on fundamental processes, as a model for studies on eukaryotic evolution or often all of the above. In terms of antigenic variation itself, substantial progress has been made in understanding the expression and switching of the VSG coat, while outstanding questions continue to stimulate innovative new approaches. There are large numbers of VSG genes in the genome but only one is expressed at a time, always immediately adjacent to a telomere. DNA repair processes allow a new VSG to be copied into the single transcribed locus. A coordinated transcriptional switch can also allow a new VSG gene to be activated without any detectable change in the DNA sequence, thereby maintaining singular expression, also known as allelic exclusion. I review the story behind VSGs; the genes, their expression and switching, their central role in T. brucei virulence, the discoveries that emerged along the way and the persistent questions relating to allelic exclusion in particular.
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