Variation_in_gene_transcription_between_life_stages_of_Trypanosoma_vivax

Trypanosoma vivax is a major pathogen of domestic cattle and wildlife across sub-Saharan Africa. For many years, the WTSI has had a research interest in developing a genome sequence for T. vivax, as part of a wider programme concerning African trypanosome parasites of Humans and animals. In 2012 a draft genome sequence for T. vivax Y486 was published by the WTSI and our collaborators in comparison with related species, T. brucei and T. congolense. This study was led to by Dr Andrew Jackson ([e-mail]) and identified numerous putative genes in T. vivax that have no known affinity and are therefore species-specific. A related transcriptomic study confirmed that some of these putative genes are transcribed, but lacked accuracy and was based on a single parasite life stage only. Until recently, it has not been possible to culture different T. vivax life stages in refined media. However, our collaborators at the Institut Pasteur (Drs Sophie Goyard ([e-mail]) and Paola Minoprio ([e-mail])) have developed in vitro cell culture for insect-stage T. vivax, meaning that there is now the opportunity to use produce whole cell RNA for all stages of the parasite life cycle. We sequence stage-specific cDNA and identify stage-specific genes, and compare these features with similar data already available for T. brucei and T. congolense, which display substantial differences in their developmental cycles. This data is part of a pre-publication release and cannot be exploited without the permission of the project partners. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/