Variation of Tandem Repeats in the Developmentally Regulated Procyclic Acidic Repetitive Proteins of Trypanosoma brucei

• Published in: Molecular and cellular biology Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 1332 - 1335
• Main Authors: Mowatt, Michael R., Wisdom, Gregory S, Clayton, Christine E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01.03.1989
• ISSN: 1098-5549; 1098-5549
• DOI: 10.1128/mcb.9.3.1332-1335.1989

The procyclic acidic repetitive proteins (PARPs) of Trypanosoma brucei are developmentally regulated surface proteins encoded by a family of polymorphic genes. We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a novel member of the PARP gene family and investigated its expression. The amino acid sequence deduced from the parpAα gene showed a marked conservation of both the amino- and carboxy-terminal regions compared with other PARPs but revealed the substitution of a pentapeptide for the dipeptide repeating unit that is characteristic of all other PARPs. Northern hybridization analysis indicated that expression of the parpAα gene, like that of other members of this gene family, is confined to the procyclic stage of the T. brucei life cycle. This result implies coordinate regulation of the unlinked genetic loci that encode PARPs.