Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania spp. (tritryps) present different in their life cycles as well as in their strategy for vertebrate infection. These differences in core biology are influenced by the ability of the parasites to maintain and alter their genome, leading to adaptive changes in gene expression. Gene expression is organized almost exclusively as polycistronic transcription, where every gene is expressed from one of a small number of a multigene units meaning that RNA Polymerase needs to traverse unusually long distances. The nature of transcription in each genome must predispose the parasites to pronounced replication stress due to collision between the replication and transcription machineries, leading to DNA replication fork stalling. In such stress conditions, the halted DNA fork is recognized by kinases ATM and ATR, which initiate a signaling cascade that mediates the appropriate response to the blockade. The nature of the replication stress signaling or the mechanisms of response are not the same in the tritryps and differences in genome architecture in the tritryps may be related to differing strategies used to resolve replication stress due to clashes with transcription. Specifically, it might be predicted that T. brucei activates dormant origins in conditions of stress, whereas T. cruzi and Leishmania resolve the stalled forks using recombination/amplification. We aim to determine if replication-transcription clashes are the main cause of the different genome architectures, and to reveal and compare the strategies used to resolve a stalled DNA replication forks in the parasites. (AU)
Scientific publications
(14)
(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)
CALDERANO, SIMONE GUEDES;
NISHIYAMA JUNIOR, MILTON YUTAKA;
MARINI, MARJORIE;
NUNES, NATHAN DE OLIVEIRA;
REIS, MARCELO DA SILVA;
PATANE, JOSE SALVATORE LEISTER;
DA SILVEIRA, JOSE FRANCO;
DA CUNHA, JULIA PINHEIRO CHAGAS;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA.
Identification of Novel Interspersed DNA Repetitive Elements in the Trypanosoma cruzi Genome Associated with the 3 ` UTRs of Surface Multigenic Families.
GENES,
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DE ARAUJO, CHRISTIANE BEZERRA;
CHAGAS DA CUNHA, JULIA PINHEIRO;
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DAMASCENO, JEZIEL;
JERONIMO LIMA, ALEX RANIERI;
HIRAIWA, PRISCILA;
MARQUES, CATARINA;
GONCALVES, EVONNILDO;
NISHIYAMA-JUNIOR, MILTON YUTAKA;
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ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA.
Replication origin location might contribute to genetic variability in Trypanosoma cruzi.
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DA SILVA, MARCELO S.;
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MARIN, PAULA A.;
HIRAIWA, PRISCILA M.;
ARAUJO, CHRISTIANE B.;
SCHOLL, BRUNO B.;
AVILA, ANDREA R.;
MCCULLOCH, RICHARD;
REIS, MARCELO S.;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA.
Transcription activity contributes to the firing of non-constitutive origins in African trypanosomes helping to maintain robustness in S-phase duration.
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DEC 6 2019.
Web of Science Citations: 0.
DE ARAUJO, CHRISTIANE BEZERRA;
DE LIMA, LOYZE PAOLA;
CALDERANO, SIMONE GUEDES;
DAMASCENO, FLAVIA SILVA;
SILBER, ARIEL M.;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA.
Pep5, a Fragment of Cyclin D2, Shows Antiparasitic Effects in Different Stages of the Trypanosoma cruzi Life Cycle and Blocks Parasite Infectivity.
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DE LIMA, LOYZE P.;
CALDERANO, SIMONE G.;
DA SILVA, MARCELO S.;
DE ARAUJO, CHRISTIANE B.;
VASCONCELOS, ELTON J. R.;
IWAI, LEO K.;
PEREIRA, CLAUDIO A.;
FRAGOSO, STENIO P.;
CAROLINA ELIAS, M.
Ortholog of the polymerase theta helicase domain modulates DNA replication in Trypanosoma cruzi.
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v. 9,
FEB 27 2019.
Web of Science Citations: 1.
DAMASCENO, JEZIEL D.;
OBONAGA, RICARDO;
SILVA, GABRIEL L. A.;
REIS-CUNHA, JOAO L.;
DUNCAN, SAMUEL M.;
BARTHOLOMEU, DANIELLA C.;
MOTTRAM, JEREMY C.;
MCCULLOCH, RICHARD;
TOSI, LUIZ R. O.
Conditional genome engineering reveals canonical and divergent roles for the Hus1 component of the 9-1-1 complex in the maintenance of the plastic genome of Leishmania.
Nucleic Acids Research,
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DEC 14 2018.
Web of Science Citations: 2.
ALVES, CERES LUCIANA;
REPOLES, BRUNO MARCAL;
DA SILVA, MARCELO SANTOS;
MENDES, ISABELA CECILIA;
MARIN, PAULA ANDREA;
NASCIMENTO AGUIAR, PEDRO HENRIQUE;
SANTOS, SELMA DA SILVA;
FRANCO, GLORIA REGINA;
MACEDO, ANDREA MARA;
JUNHO PENA, SERGIO DANILO;
ANDRADE, LUCIANA DE OLIVEIRA;
GUARNERI, ALESSANDRA APARECIDA;
TAHARA, ERICH BIRELLI;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA;
MACHADO, CARLOS RENATO.
The recombinase Rad51 plays a key role in events of genetic exchange in Trypanosoma cruzi.
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SEP 6 2018.
Web of Science Citations: 2.
CRISPIM, MARCELL;
DAMASCENO, FLAVIA SILVA;
HERNANDEZ, AGUSTINO;
BARISON, MARIA JULIA;
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PAVANI, RAPHAEL SOUZA;
MOURA, ALEXANDRE SANTOS;
FURUSHO PRAL, ELIZABETH MIEKO;
CORTEZ, MAURO;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA;
SILBER, ARIEL MARIANO.
The glutamine synthetase of Trypanosoma cruzi is required for its resistance to ammonium accumulation and evasion of the parasitophorous vacuole during host-cell infection.
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JAN 2018.
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DA SILVA, MARCELO S.;
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DAMASCENO, JEZIEL D.;
MARQUES, CATARINA A.;
MCCULLOCH, RICHARD;
ORSINI TOSI, LUIZ RICARDO;
ELIAS, MARIA CAROLINA.
Nuclear DNA Replication in Trypanosomatids: There Are No Easy Methods for Solving Difficult Problems.
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v. 33,
n. 11,
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NOV 2017.
Web of Science Citations: 9.