Structure and organization of telomeric and subtelomeric regions of Trypanosoma cruzi

• Grant number: 11/06653-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: José Franco da Silveira Filho
• Grantee: Marjorie Mendes Marini e Souza
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/51475-3 - Molecular and cellular biology of the parasitism by Trypanosoma cruzi, AP.TEM

Abstract

Telomeres maintain the chromosomal stability and harbor genes involved in the interaction of the parasite and its hostd. Recently, we have suggested that the subtelomeric regions T. cruzi are involved in the generation of new variants of surface antigens of the superfamily of trans - sialidases ( TS ). Despite the clonal nature of T. cruzi populations, the subtelomeric regions of the parasite are polymorphic and variable, suggesting the occurrence of mutations in these regions during the DNA replication and/or through ectopic or homologous recombination between telomeric ends during mitosis.The aim of this project is (i) to characterize the telomeric and subtelomeric regions of T. cruzi represented in 48 telomeric scaffolds available in the database GeneDB TriTryp and (ii) to compare its structure and organization in different strains of the parasite. Comparison of the telomeric regions of the CL Brener clone and other strains of T. cruzi will be carried out using the strategy of comparative genomic hybridization-based microarray ( aCGH ) . Thus , in this project we intend to determine the organization of telomeric ends available on GeneDB TriTryp and generate information to understand the structure , organization and functionality of the subtelomeric regions of different strains of T. cruzi.