title: Genome of the avirulent human-infective trypanosome--Trypanosoma rangeli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite infecting humans and other wild and domestic mammals across Central and South America. It does not cause human disease, but it can be mistaken for the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. We have sequenced the T. rangeli genome to provide new tools for elucidating the distinct and intriguing biology of this species and the key pathways related to interaction with its arthropod and mammalian hosts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The T. rangeli haploid genome is ∼ 24 Mb in length, and is the smallest and least repetitive trypanosomatid genome sequenced thus far. This parasite genome has shorter subtelomeric sequences compared to those of T. cruzi and T. brucei; displays intraspecific karyotype variability and lacks minichromosomes. Of the predicted 7,613 protein coding sequences, functional annotations could be determined for 2,415, while 5,043 are hypothetical proteins, some with evidence of protein expression. 7,101 genes (93%) are shared with other trypanosomatids that infect humans. An ortholog of the dcl2 gene involved in the T. brucei RNAi pathway was found in T. rangeli, but the RNAi machinery is non-functional since the other genes in this pathway are pseudogenized. T. rangeli is highly susceptible to oxidative stress, a phenotype that may be explained by a smaller number of anti-oxidant defense enzymes and heat-shock proteins.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Phylogenetic comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial genes indicates that T. rangeli and T. cruzi are equidistant from T. brucei. In addition to revealing new aspects of trypanosome co-evolution within the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, comparative genomic analysis with pathogenic trypanosomatids provides valuable new information that can be further explored with the aim of developing better diagnostic tools and/or therapeutic targets.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia Hermes
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Stoco
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil; Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Joaçaba, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Glauber
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Talavera-Lopez
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Arnaldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaha
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Elizabeth
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniella Castanheira
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bartholomeu
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Débora Denardin
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Lückemeyer
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bahia
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elgion
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Loreto
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elisa Beatriz
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Prestes
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fábio Mitsuo
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodrigues-Luiz
authors.affiliation: Universidad del Tolima, Ibagué, Colombia.
authors.forename: Gustavo Adolfo
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Franco da Silveira
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Filho
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sérgio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schenkman
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karina Mariante
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Centre, School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kevin Morris
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz Gonzaga Paula
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauro Freitas
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chiurillo
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milene Höehr
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: de Moraes
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Oberdan de Lima
authors.initials: Ode L
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rondon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mendonça-Neto
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosane
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Santuza Maria Ribeiro
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Silvane Maria Fonseca
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Murta
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais Cristine Marques
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Sincero
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tiago Antonio de Oliveira
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Turán Peter
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Urmenyi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Viviane Grazielle
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wanderson Duarte
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: DaRocha
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alvaro José
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Romanha
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mário
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steindel
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ana Tereza Ribeiro
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: de Vasconcelos
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Edmundo Carlos
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Grisard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D006238:Haploidy; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D057509:Trypanosoma rangeli / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan