Variant antigen diversity in Trypanosoma vivax is not driven by recombination

Sara Silva Pereira, Kayo J. G. Almeida Castilho Neto, Craig W. Duffy, Peter Richards, Harry Noyes, Moses Ogugo, Marcos Rogério André, Zakaria Bengaly, Steve Kemp, Marta M. G. Teixeira, Rosangela Z. Machado and Andrew P. Jackson ()
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Sara Silva Pereira: University of Liverpool
Kayo J. G. Almeida Castilho Neto: São Paulo State University (UNESP)
Craig W. Duffy: University of Liverpool
Peter Richards: University of Liverpool
Harry Noyes: University of Liverpool
Moses Ogugo: International Livestock Research Institute
Marcos Rogério André: São Paulo State University (UNESP)
Zakaria Bengaly: International Research Centre for Livestock Development in the Sub-humid Zone (CIRDES)
Steve Kemp: International Livestock Research Institute
Marta M. G. Teixeira: University of Sao Paulo
Rosangela Z. Machado: São Paulo State University (UNESP)
Andrew P. Jackson: University of Liverpool

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract African trypanosomes (Trypanosoma) are vector-borne haemoparasites that survive in the vertebrate bloodstream through antigenic variation of their Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG). Recombination, or rather segmented gene conversion, is fundamental in Trypanosoma brucei for both VSG gene switching and for generating antigenic diversity during infections. Trypanosoma vivax is a related, livestock pathogen whose VSG lack structures that facilitate gene conversion in T. brucei and mechanisms underlying its antigenic diversity are poorly understood. Here we show that species-wide VSG repertoire is broadly conserved across diverse T. vivax clinical strains and has limited antigenic repertoire. We use variant antigen profiling, coalescent approaches and experimental infections to show that recombination plays little role in diversifying T. vivax VSG sequences. These results have immediate consequences for both the current mechanistic model of antigenic variation in African trypanosomes and species differences in virulence and transmission, requiring reconsideration of the wider epidemiology of animal African trypanosomiasis.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14575-8

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