Key result
Transcript abundance of COI, URF4, and URF5 varies between Trypanosoma brucei forms, suggesting multiple regulatory processes.
Stage-specific transcript variation in T. brucei does not yet inform therapy; leaves open multiple regulatory processes as potential targets.
Transcription of a maxicircle segment from Trypanosoma brucei 164 that contains nucleotide (nt) sequences corresponding to cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and unassigned reading frames (URFs) 4 and 5 of other mitochondrial systems was investigated. Two major transcripts that differ in size by ca. 200 nt map to each of the COI and URF4 genes, while a single major transcript maps to URF5. In total RNA, the larger COI transcript is more abundant in procyclic forms (PFs) than in bloodstream forms (BFs), the smaller COI and both URF4 transcripts have similar abundances in both forms, and the single URF5 transcript is more abundant in BF than PF. These patterns of expression differ in poly(A)+ RNA as a result of a higher proportion of poly(A)+ mitochondrial transcripts in PFs than in BFs. In addition, small (300- to 500-nt) RNAs that are transcribed from C-rich sequences located between putative protein-coding genes also exhibit diverse patterns of expression between life cycle stages and differences in polyadenylation in PFs compared with BFs. These observations suggest that multiple processes regulate the differential expression of mitochondrial genes in T. brucei.
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Jasmer et al. (1985) studied Trypanosoma brucei. Life cycle stage (procyclic forms vs bloodstream forms) was evaluated on Transcript abundance of COI, URF4, and URF5. Transcript abundance of mitochondrial genes COI, URF4, and URF5 varies between procyclic and bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma brucei, suggesting multiple regulatory processes.
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