title: A group of Giardia lamblia variant-specific surface protein (VSP) genes with nearly identical 5' regions.
abstract: The surfaces of Giardia lamblia trophozoites contain one of a set of variant-specific surface proteins. The genes encoding these proteins are highly conserved at the 3' terminus, but frequently demonstrate little similarity in the remainder of the coding region. This report describes a family of vsp genes highly similar to a repeat-containing vsp gene (vspC5) at the 5' coding and flanking regions, but which diverge abruptly from vspC5 in the first repeat and do not themselves contain full copies of the repeat. This observation suggests the possibility that recombination among different vsp genes may have played a role in development of the vsp gene repertoire.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Adam
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016829:Giardia lamblia / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C103927:Vsp protein, Giardia intestinalis