Measurement of variant surface glycoprotein mRNA using RNAseq

Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 bloodstream forms were cultured in HMI-11 medium. Total RNA was prepared using Qiagen RNAeasy kits for single sample RNAseq to estimate VSG mRNA abundance (and not to reconstruct the transcriptome). The cDNA libraries were prepared and sequenced at the Beijing Genomics Institute (Shenzhen, China). Polyadenylated RNA was purified from total RNA, converted to cDNA using random hexamer primers sheared and size selected for fragments ~200 bp in length using the Illumina TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v2. RNAseq of the resulting libraries was used for the determination of transcript abundances. Sequencing was performed on an Illumina Hiseq 2000 (Illumina, CA) platform and 90 base paired end reads obtained. Four samples were analysed: 1. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG2 2. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 3. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 and a VSG2 transgender located in the active bloodstream expression site 28 days after electroporation 4. Trypanosoma brucei Lister 427 expressing VSG6 and a VSG2 transgender located in the active bloodstream expression site 44 days after electroporation.