Transcription Dependent Loss of an Ectopically Expressed Variant Surface Glycoprotein during Antigenic Variation in Trypanosoma brucei

Abstract

The single-cell parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes the fatal disease human African trypanosomiasis and is able to colonize the blood, fat, skin, and central nervous system. Trypanosomes survive in the mammalian host owing to a dense protective protein coat that consists of a single-variant surface glycoprotein species.