DNA damage drives antigen diversification through mosaic Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) formation in .

Antigenic variation, using large genomic repertoires of antigen-encoding genes, allows pathogens to evade host antibody. Many pathogens, including the African trypanosome , extend their antigenic repertoire through genomic diversification. While evidence suggests that depends on the generation of new variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes to maintain a chronic infection, a lack of experimentally tractable tools for studying this process has obscured its underlying mechanisms.