Complete sequence of a 93.4-kb contig from chromosome 3 of Trypanosoma cruzi containing a strand-switch region.
We have initiated large-scale sequencing of the third smallest chromosome of the CL Brener strain of Trypanosoma cruzi and we report here the complete sequence of a contig consisting of three cosmids. This contig covers 93.4 kb and has been found to contain 20-30 novel genes and several repeat elements, including a novel chromosome 3-specific 400-bp repeat sequence. The intergenic sequences were found to be rich in di- and trinucleotide repeats of varying lengths and also contained several known T. cruzi repeat elements. The sequence contains 29 open reading frames (ORFs) longer than 700 bp, the longest being 5157 bp, and a large number of shorter ORFs. Of the long ORFs, seven show homology to known genes in parasites and other organisms, whereas four ORFs were confirmed by sequencing of cDNA clones. Two shorter ORFs were confirmed by a database homology and a cDNA clone, respectively, and one RNA gene was identified. The identified genes include two copies of the gene for alanine-aminotransferase as well as genes for glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, protein kinases and phosphatases, and an ATP synthase subunit. An interesting feature of the sequence was that the genes appear to be organized in two long clusters containing multiple genes on the same strand. The two clusters are transcribed in opposite directions and they are separated by an approximately 20-kb long, relatively GC-rich sequence, that contains two large repetitive elements as well as a pseudogene for cruzipain and a gene for U2snRNA. It is likely that this strand switch region contains one or more regulatory and promoter regions. The reported sequence provides the first insight into the genome organization of T. cruzi and shows the potential of this approach for rapid identification of novel genes. [The sequence data described in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank data library under accession nos. AF052831-AF052833.]
Andersson
B
B
Department of Genetics and Pathology, Biomedical Center, S-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden. bjorn.andersson@medgen.uu.se
Aslund
L
L
Tammi
M
M
Tran
A N
AN
Hoheisel
J D
JD
Pettersson
U
U
D025181:ATP Synthetase Complexes; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003360:Cosmids; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D015698:Genomic Library; D005956:Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase / Q000235:genetics; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000235:genetics; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics*; D017856:Phosphotransferases (Phosphate Group Acceptor) / Q000235:genetics; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011544:Pseudogenes; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D017413:Ribonucleoprotein, U2 Small Nuclear / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics*
D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D017413:Ribonucleoprotein, U2 Small Nuclear; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D025181:ATP Synthetase Complexes; D017856:Phosphotransferases (Phosphate Group Acceptor); D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C063214:cruzipain; D005956:Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase