The genome of the kinetoplastid parasite, Leishmania major

IVENS AC; WORTHEY EA; MURPHY L; AGGARWAL G; BERRIMAN M; SISK E; RAJANDREAM MA; ADLEM E; AERT R; ANUPAMA A; APOSTOLOU Z; ATTIPOE P; BASON N; BAUSER C; BECK A; BEVERLEY SM; BIANCHETTIN G; BORZYM K; BOTHE G; BRUSCHI CV; COLLINS M; CADAG E; CIARLONI L; CLAYTON C; COULSON RM; CRONIN A; CRUZ AK; DAVIES RM; DE GAUDENZI, JG; DOBSON DE; DUESTERHOEFT A; FAZELINA G; FOSKER N; FRASCH, A. C.; FRASER A; FUCHS M; GABEL C; GOBLE A; GOFFEAU A; HARRIS D; HERTZ-FOWLER C; HILBERT H; HORN D; HUANG Y; KLAGES S; KNIGHTS A; KUBE M; LARKE N; LITVIN L; LORD A; LOUIE T; MARRA M; MASUY D; MATTHEWS K; MICHAELI S; MOTTRAM JC; MULLER-AUER S; MUNDEN H; NELSON S; NORBERTCZAK H; OLIVER K; O'NEIL S; PENTONY M; POHL TM; PRICE C; PURNELLE B; QUAIL MA; RABBINOWITSCH E; REINHARDT R; RIEGER M; RINTA J; ROBBEN J; ROBERTSON L; RUIZ JC; RUTTER S; SAUNDERS D; SCHAFER M; SCHEIN J; SCHWARTZ DC; SEEGER K; SEYLER A; SHARP S; SHIN H; SIVAM D; SQUARES R; SQUARES S; TOSATO V; VOGT C; VOLCKAERT G; WAMBUTT R; WARREN T; WEDLER H; WOODWARD J; ZHOU S; ZIMMERMANN W

SCIENCE

AAAS

Año: 2005 p. 436 - 442

0036-8075

Leishmania species cause a spectrum of human diseases in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. We have sequenced the 36 chromosomes of the 32.8-megabase haploid genome of Leishmania major (Friedlin strain) and predict 911 RNA genes, 39 pseudogenes, and 8272 protein-coding genes, of which 36% can be ascribed a putative function. These include genes involved in host-pathogen interactions, such as proteolytic enzymes, and extensive machinery for synthesis of complex surface glycoconjugates. The organization of protein-coding genes into long, strand-specific, polycistronic clusters and lack of general transcription factors in the L. major, Trypanosoma brucei, and Trypanosoma cruzi (Tritryp) genomes suggest that the mechanisms regulating RNA polymerase II-directed transcription are distinct from those operating in other eukaryotes, although the trypanosomatids appear capable of chromatin remodeling. Abundant RNA-binding proteins are encoded in the Tritryp genomes, consistent with active posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression.