Publications by authors named "E Tihon"
During infection of mammalian hosts, African trypanosomes thwart immunity using antigenic variation of the dense Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) coat, accessing a large repertoire of several thousand genes and pseudogenes, and switching to antigenically distinct copies. The parasite is transferred to mammalian hosts by the tsetse fly. In the salivary glands of the fly, the pathogen adopts the metacyclic form and expresses a limited repertoire of VSG genes specific to that developmental stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe life cycle alternates between the tsetse fly vector and the mammalian host. In the insect, undergoes several developmental stages until it reaches the salivary gland and differentiates into the metacyclic form, which is capable of infecting the next mammalian host. Mammalian infectivity is dependent on expression of the metacyclic variant surface glycoprotein genes as the cells develop into mature metacyclics.
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- * DNA double strand breaks play a crucial role in this switching process, but the specific locations of these breaks are not fully understood.
- * Research using cell lines demonstrated that breaks in repetitive DNA regions do not effectively trigger VSG switching, revealing that the break position affects gene expression and the DNA repair response, influencing how antigenic variation occurs in these parasites.
Genomic analysis of Isometamidium Chloride resistance in Trypanosoma congolense.
Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist
December 2017
Isometamidium Chloride (ISM) is one of the principal drugs used to counteract Trypanosoma congolense infection in livestock, both as a prophylactic as well as a curative treatment. However, numerous cases of ISM resistance have been reported in different African regions, representing a significant constraint in the battle against Animal African Trypanosomiasis. In order to identify genetic signatures associated with ISM resistance in T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recent whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis identified a viable triploid strain of Trypanosoma congolense. This triploid strain BANANCL2 was a clone of the field isolate BANAN/83/CRTRA/64 that was collected from cattle in Burkina Faso in 1983.
Results: We demonstrated the viability and stability of triploidy throughout the complete life-cycle of the parasite by infecting tsetse flies with the triploid clone BANANCL2.