Transcription of Trypanosoma brucei maxicircles

Conference · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6072075

Michelotti, E F; Hajduk, S L

Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite which developmentally regulates mitochondrial activity. In the mammal T. brucei produces ATP entirely by glycolysis while cytochrome mediated respiration resumes in the life-stage in the midgut of the insect vector. Using quantitative S1 nuclease protection assays two types of regulation of the steady state levels of the mitochondrial transcripts were found. Transcription of cytochrome b, cytochrome oxidase, and the rRNA genes is repressed in early bloodstream developmental stages, undergoes dramatic activation in later bloodstream stages, and finally a lesser activation in the insect developmental stage. Transcription of NADH dehydrogenase genes, however, is unregulated. Mitochondrial transcripts with a 5' triphosphate terminus, representing the site of transcription initiation, were capped using guanylyl transferase. The in vitro capped RNA hybridized to only one of eight mitochondrial restriction fragments on a Southern blot, however, hybridization of Southern blots with RNA from ..cap alpha..-/sup 32/P-UTP pulsed mitochondria labelled all restriction fragments equally. These results suggest that each DNA strand has a single promoter which directs the transcription of a full-length RNA which is subsequently processed. Different mitochondrial genes, despite being expressed on the same precursor RNA molecule, are independently regulated by both transcription initiation and RNA processing.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham
• OSTI ID: 6072075
• Report Number(s): CONF-870644-; TRN: 87-037277
• Journal Information: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States), Vol. 46:6; Conference: 78. annual meeting of the American Society of Biological Chemists conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 7 Jun 1987
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
GENES
TRANSCRIPTION
RNA
HYBRIDIZATION
TRYPANOSOMA
ATP
BLOOD
DNA
GENE REGULATION
LIFE CYCLE
MITOCHONDRIA
NADH2
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BODY FLUIDS
CELL CONSTITUENTS
COENZYMES
MASTIGOPHORA
MATERIALS
NUCLEIC ACIDS
NUCLEOTIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANOIDS
PARASITES
550401* - Genetics- Tracer Techniques