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PMID: 1708090 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Characterization of VSG gene expression site promoters and promoter-associated DNA rearrangement events.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 11 ·No. 5 ·1991-05-00 ·Pages 2467-80

Gottesdiener K, Chung HM, Brown SD, Lee MG, Van der Ploeg LH

Abstract

The expressed variant cell surface glycoprotein (VSG) gene of Trypanosoma brucei is located at the 3' end of a large, telomeric, polycistronic transcription unit or expression site. We show that the region 45 kb upstream of the VSG gene, in the expression site on a 1.5-Mb chromosome, contains at least two promoters that are arranged in tandem, directing the transcription of the expression site. DNA rearrangement events occur specifically, at inactivation of the expression site, and these events delete the most upstream transcribed region and replace it with a large array of simple-sequence DNA, leaving the downstream promoter intact. Because of the placement of simple-sequence DNA, the remaining downstream promoter now becomes structurally identical to previously described VSG promoters. The downstream promoter is repetitive in the genome, since it is present at several different expression sites. Restriction fragment length polymorphism mapping allows grouping of the expression sites into two families, those with and those without an upstream transcription unit, and the DNA rearrangement events convert the expression sites from one type to the other. Deletion of the upstream transcription unit also leads to the loss of several steady-state RNAs. The findings may indicate a role for promoter-associated DNA rearrangement events, and/or interactions between tandemly arranged promoters, in expression site transcriptional control.

MeSH Terms
Animals Base Sequence Blotting, Northern Blotting, Southern Cloning, Molecular DNA/genetics,isolation & purification Gene Library Gene Rearrangement Genes Molecular Sequence Data Polymerase Chain Reaction Promoter Regions, Genetic RNA/genetics,isolation & purification Rabbits Restriction Mapping Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid Transcription, Genetic Trypanosoma brucei brucei/genetics,immunology Variant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma/genetics
Chemicals
Variant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma RNA DNA
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Gottesdiener K
Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032.
Chung H M
Brown S D
Lee M G
Van der Ploeg L H
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/mcb.11.5.2467-2480.1991
Published
1991-05-00
Pages
2467-80
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC360012
Subset
IM
Grants
NIAID NIH HHS · AI 21784 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
M57697, M64820, M64821, M64822, M64823, M64824, M64825, M64826, M64827, M65191
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/mcb.11.5.2467-2480.1991 PMC Full Text View journal details
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