Complexity of the MSG gene family of Pneumocystis carinii

Keely, Scott P.; Stringer, James R.

doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-367

Cited by 39 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Msg is encoded by a large gene family consisting of over 100 copies. Molecular examination of Msg genomic localization and expression revealed that the msg gene undergoes extensive genomic rearrangement, resulting in variations in its antigenic properties (148,161,203,280,281). The expressed msg gene copy is positioned at a specific expression site in the genome, with a single protein isoform expressed at one time (73,283,305).…”

Section: Pneumocystis Antigensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization by Pneumocystis jirovecii and Its Role in Disease

2012

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SUMMARY Although the incidence of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) has decreased since the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy, it remains an important cause of disease in both HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected immunosuppressed populations. The epidemiology of PCP has shifted over the course of the HIV epidemic both from changes in HIV and PCP treatment and prevention and from changes in critical care medicine. Although less common in non-HIV-infected immunosuppressed patients, PCP is now more frequently seen due to the increasing numbers of organ transplants and development of novel immunotherapies. New diagnostic and treatment modalities are under investigation. The immune response is critical in preventing this disease but also results in lung damage, and future work may offer potential areas for vaccine development or immunomodulatory therapy. Colonization with Pneumocystis is an area of increasing clinical and research interest and may be important in development of lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In this review, we discuss current clinical and research topics in the study of Pneumocystis and highlight areas for future research.

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Section: Pneumocystis Antigensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization by Pneumocystis jirovecii and Its Role in Disease

2012

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“…Similar to T. brucei, antigenic variation in several other microbial pathogens also relies on HR-mediated gene conversion, such as switching of the major surface glycoprotein (MSG) in Pneumocystis jirovecii that causes pneumonia (134,135) and switching of the VlsE variant surface protein in Borrelia burgdorferi that causes Lyme disease (136,137). However, molecular tools for studying both P. jirovecii and B. burgdorferi still are very limited.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA Double-Strand Breaks and Telomeres Play Important Roles in Trypanosoma brucei Antigenic Variation

2015

Eukaryot Cell

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Human-infecting microbial pathogens all face a serious problem of elimination by the host immune response. Antigenic variation is an effective immune evasion mechanism where the pathogen regularly switches its major surface antigen. In many cases, the major surface antigen is encoded by genes from the same gene family, and its expression is strictly monoallelic. Among pathogens that undergo antigenic variation, Trypanosoma brucei (a kinetoplastid), which causes human African trypanosomiasis, Plasmodium falciparum (an apicomplexan), which causes malaria, Pneumocystis jirovecii (a fungus), which causes pneumonia, and Borrelia burgdorferi (a bacterium), which causes Lyme disease, also express their major surface antigens from loci next to the telomere. Except for Plasmodium, DNA recombination-mediated gene conversion is a major pathway for surface antigen switching in these pathogens. In the last decade, more sophisticated molecular and genetic tools have been developed in T. brucei, and our knowledge of functions of DNA recombination in antigenic variation has been greatly advanced. VSG is the major surface antigen in T. brucei. In subtelomeric VSG expression sites (ESs), VSG genes invariably are flanked by a long stretch of upstream 70-bp repeats. Recent studies have shown that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), particularly those in 70-bp repeats in the active ES, are a natural potent trigger for antigenic variation in T. brucei. In addition, telomere proteins can influence VSG switching by reducing the DSB amount at subtelomeric regions. These findings will be summarized and their implications will be discussed in this review.

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“…Computational analysis of MSG gene sequences suggested that these genes commonly undergo recombination (Keely & Stringer 2009;Keely et al 2005;Wada & Nakamura 1996), which is not unlike the VSG switching in T. brucei. Similar to VSG, MSG is also the last transcribed gene on the chromosome (Keely et al 2005;Wada & Nakamura 1996).…”

Section: Telomere Proteins Influence Vsg Switching Frequency In T Brmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far 73 MSG genes have been identified, all are located at the subtelomeric loci (Fig. 10) (Keely & Stringer 2009). There are 17 chromosomes in P. carinii (Hong et al 1990), indicating that on average at least 2 MSG genes are at each telomere, which is often the case in cloned terminal fragments from various chromosomes (Keely et al 2005;Wada & Nakamura 1996).…”

Section: Telomere Proteins Influence Vsg Switching Frequency In T Brmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere as an Important Player in Regulation of Microbial Pathogen Virulence

Li¹

2012

Reviews on Selected Topics of Telomere Biology

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Complexity of the MSG gene family of Pneumocystis carinii

Cited by 39 publications

References 109 publications

Colonization by Pneumocystis jirovecii and Its Role in Disease

Colonization by Pneumocystis jirovecii and Its Role in Disease

DNA Double-Strand Breaks and Telomeres Play Important Roles in Trypanosoma brucei Antigenic Variation

Telomere as an Important Player in Regulation of Microbial Pathogen Virulence

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