Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30440029›Full record

ReviewPLoS pathogens2018

Evaluation of mechanisms that may generate DNA lesions triggering antigenic variation in African trypanosomes.

Marcelo Santos da Silva, Galadriel A Hovel-Miner, Emma M Briggs, Maria Carolina Elias, Richard McCulloch

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in PLoS pathogens, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. RAD51-mediated R-loop formation acts to repair transcription-associated DNA breaks driving antigenic variation inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Regulation of Antigenic Variation byPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021
    Review
  11. Unpicking the Roles of DNA Damage Protein Kinases in Trypanosomatids.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. ATR Kinase Is a Crucial Player Mediating the DNA Damage Response inFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Marcelo Santos da SilvaLaboratório Especial de Ciclo Celular, Center of Toxins, Immune Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0003-4203-9299
Galadriel A Hovel-MinerThe George Washington University, Department of Microbiology Immunology, and Tropical Medicine, Washington, DC, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0001-5995-9329
Emma M BriggsThe Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6740-8882
Maria Carolina EliasLaboratório Especial de Ciclo Celular, Center of Toxins, Immune Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil.
Richard McCullochThe Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-5739-976X
Instituto Butantan · BRWellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology · GBGeorge Washington University · US

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/K006495/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/M028909/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/N016165/1Medical Research Council G0401553Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 104111
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Antigenic variation by variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat switching in African trypanosomes is one of the most elaborate immune evasion strategies found among pathogens. Changes in the identity of the transcribed VSG gene, which is always flanked by 70-bp and telomeric repeats, can be achieved either by transcriptional or DNA recombination mechanisms. The major route of VSG switching is DNA recombination, which occurs in the bloodstream VSG expression site (ES), a multigenic site transcribed by RNA polymerase I. Recombinogenic VSG switching is frequently catalyzed by homologous recombination (HR), a reaction normally triggered by DNA breaks. However, a clear understanding of how such breaks arise-including whether there is a dedicated and ES-focused mechanism-is lacking. Here, we synthesize data emerging from recent studies that have proposed a range of mechanisms that could generate these breaks: action of a nuclease or nucleases; repetitive DNA, most notably the 70-bp repeats, providing an intra-ES source of instability; DNA breaks derived from the VSG-adjacent telomere; DNA breaks arising from high transcription levels at the active ES; and DNA lesions arising from replication-transcription conflicts in the ES. We discuss the evidence that underpins these switch-initiation models and consider what features and mechanisms might be shared or might allow the models to be tested further. Evaluation of all these models highlights that we still have much to learn about the earliest acting step in VSG switching, which may have the greatest potential for therapeutic intervention in order to undermine the key reaction used by trypanosomes for their survival and propagation in the mammalian host.

Indexed as

Antigenic VariationDNADNA ReplicationImmune EvasionTelomereTranscription, GeneticTrypanosomaTrypanosoma brucei bruceiTrypanosomiasis, AfricanVariant Surface Glycoproteins, TrypanosomaDNAVariant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma

Identifiers

PMID30440029
PMCPMC6237402
OpenAlexW2901532981

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.