The ves multigene family of B. bovis encodes components of rapid antigenic variation at the infected erythrocyte surface.
B. bovis, an intraerythrocytic protozoal parasite, establishes chronic infections in cattle in part through rapid variation of the polymorphic, heterodimeric VESA1 protein on the infected erythrocyte surface and sequestration of mature parasites. We describe the characterization of the ves1 alpha gene encoding the VESA1a subunit, thus providing a description of a gene whose product is involved in rapid antigenic variation in a babesial parasite. This three-exon gene, a member of a multigene family (ves), encodes a polypeptide with no cleavable signal sequence, a single predicted transmembrane segment, and a cysteine/lysine-rich domain. Variation appears to involve creation and modification or loss of a novel, transcribed copy of the gene.
Allred
D R
DR
Department of Pathobiology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA. allredd@mail.vetmed.ufl.edu
Carlton
J M
JM
Satcher
R L
RL
Long
J A
JA
Brown
W C
WC
Patterson
P E
PE
O'Connor
R M
RM
Stroup
S E
SE
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016793:Babesia bovis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002417:Cattle; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D019281:Dimerization; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology*; D015723:Gene Library; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan