Evidencing centromeric regions in Trypanosoma cruzi: an in silico and experimental approach

• Grant number: 22/12897-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: July 06, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Biochemistry of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Julia Pinheiro Chagas da Cunha
• Grantee: Kellana dos Santos e Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15553-9 - Going deeper into Trypanosoma cruzi chromatin regulation: identifying new players and quizzing its impact on a potential transcription control, AP.JP2

Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi has peculiarities in genomic organization and gene expression where genes are transcribed into polycistronic transcription units. Mitosis in T. cruzi occurs with semi-condensation of the chromosomes hampering the application of classical cytogeneticsapproaches. The karyotype was determined by molecular biology techniques. Among the genomic characteristics of T. cruzi, few studies have been carried out in relation to centromeric regions that have importance for well-known processes such as chromosome segregation and genomearchitecture.Genome organization signatures, including centromeric regions, are detectable using Chromosome conformation capture (3C) techniques such as Hi-C. Understanding how chromosomes fold can provide insights into the complex relationships of nuclear organization and the position of centromeres. Kinetochores are a macromolecular complex that governs chromosomal segregation and are located at centromers. None of the canonical kinetochore proteins have been identified in trypanosomatids. However, the KKT proteins (kinetoplastid kinetochore protein) found only in trypanosomatids have been described as present in kinetochores. In this work, we will explore the putative centromeric regions determined by the Hi-C technique by in silico and experimental analyses.Experimentally, we will generate tagged strains for two KKTs proteins, followed by their genomic localization by Chip-seq