title: Allelic polymorphism of the Trypanosoma brucei polyubiquitin gene.
abstract: We have characterized a second T. brucei polyubiquitin gene (UbB) that is highly similar in the coding and flanking regions to a previously described T. brucei polyubiquitin gene (UbA). However, UbB differs from UbA in 2 respects: (1) the predicted carboxy-terminal amino acid of UbB is methionine, as opposed to leucine in UbA, and (2) UbB contains approximately 13 ubiquitin repeats, as opposed to approximately 30 repeats in UbA. In Southern blots of intact T. brucei DNA separated by pulsed field gel electrophoresis, the polyubiquitin sequences have been shown to reside on band 19, which may contain 3 chromosomes. Three experiments that target a neomycin-resistance gene to the polyubiquitin locus demonstrate a one-to-one ratio of polyubiquitin 3-flanking sequences, which suggests that UbA and UbB are alleles rather than duplications. Four additional strains of T. brucei and one strain of T. equiperdum show variation in their polyubiquitin gene size, suggesting that this is a common polymorphism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Elgort
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gottesdiener
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes / Q000737:chemistry; D010957:Plasmids; D011108:Polymers; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D025821:Polyubiquitin; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics*; D014452:Ubiquitins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011108:Polymers; D014452:Ubiquitins; D025821:Polyubiquitin