Heterochromatin Silencing and Locus Repositioning Linked to Regulation of Virulence Genes in Plasmodium falciparum

• Published in: Cell Vol. 121; no. 1; pp. 13 - 24
• Main Authors: Duraisingh, Manoj T., Voss, Till S., Marty, Allison J., Duffy, Michael F., Good, Robert T., Thompson, Jennifer K., Freitas-Junior, Lucio H., Scherf, Artur, Crabb, Brendan S., Cowman, Alan F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 08.04.2005
• Subjects: Animals; Antigenic Variation - genetics; Antigenic Variation - immunology; Cell Compartmentation - genetics; Cell Compartmentation - immunology; Cell Nucleus - genetics; Cell Nucleus - immunology; Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly - genetics; Chromosomes - genetics; Chromosomes - immunology; Gene Silencing - immunology; Genes, Protozoan - genetics; Genes, Protozoan - immunology; Heterochromatin - genetics; Heterochromatin - immunology; Humans; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Malaria, Falciparum - genetics; Malaria, Falciparum - parasitology; Microarray Analysis; Plasmids - genetics; Plasmids - immunology; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - genetics; Plasmodium falciparum - immunology; Plasmodium falciparum - pathogenicity; Telomere - genetics; Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase - genetics; Virulence - genetics

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum undergoes antigenic variation to evade host immune responses through switching expression of variant surface proteins encoded by the var gene family. We demonstrate that both a subtelomeric transgene and var genes are subject to reversible gene silencing. V...