Trypanosoma brucei brucei procyclic and metacylic transcriptome

We used an in vitro system to obtain Trypanosoma brucei metacyclics and determined their mRNA repertoires by mRNA sequencing in comparison to non-infectious procyclic trypanosomes. We show that metacyclics are quiescent cells, and we propose that the transition to this quiescent state is a factor in the choice of a minimalistic metacyclic variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) expression site, because it requires fewer cellular resources for activation.