Trypanosoma brucei parasites, which cause sleeping sickness, in a blood smear. CDC/DR. MAE MELVIN
Most proteins in trypanosomes, protozoan parasites that cause sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, are transcribed from just a few transcription initiation sites, meaning the resulting mRNA must be chopped into mRNAs for individual proteins. A new study published today (April 4) in Open Biology shows that rather than being regulated post-transcriptionally, gene expression is regulated by genome organization. Specifically, the distance of the genes from the nearest transcription initiation site appears to be related their levels of expression.
To study gene expression changes, scientists at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge examined 777 genes whose expression changed during a heat shock challenge, which results in increased expression of a suite of proteins that help regulate proper protein conformation and prevent aggregation. The researchers then compared ...
