- Email: [email protected]
Website of European mosquito taxonomists
Opinion
TRENDS in Parasitology Vol.17 No.9 September 2001
to date are very interesting. The Parasite Genome Network (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/parasites/parasitegenome.html) interlinking protein and DNA sequence information will probably be important for identifying functional orthologues or specific components of the trypanosomatid telomeric chromatin, for comparing the expression of telomeric genes and for exploiting the synteny between different species. Exploring the telomere structure of very ancient eukaryotes could help to establish the evolutionary relationships between the factors that References 1 Pryde, F. et al. (1997) Chromosome ends: all the same under their caps. Cur. Opin. Genet. Dev. 7, 822–828 2 O’Reilly, M. et al. (1999) Telomerases. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 9, 56–65 3 Cano, M.I. et al. (1999) Telomerase in kinetoplastid parasitic protozoa. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 3616–3621 4 Kass-Eiler, A. and Greider, C. (2000) Recombination in telomere-length maintenance. Trends Biochem. Sci. 25, 200–204 5 Urquidi, V. et al. (2000) Role of telomerase in cell senescence and oncogenesis. Annu. Rev. Med. 51, 65–79 6 Johnston, D. et al. (1999) Genomics and the biology of parasites. BioEssays 21, 131–147 7 Cross, G. (1996) Antigenic variation in trypanosomes: secrets surface slowly. BioEssays 18, 283–291 8 Rudenko, G. (2000) The polymorphic telomeres of the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 28, 536–540 9 Muñoz-Jordan, J. et al. (2001) t-loops at trypanosome telomeres. EMBO J. 20, 579–588
429
allow telomeres to contribute to the cell life span in eukaryotes. Exploring telomere dynamics during the parasite life cycle will be essential for understanding the function of each telomeric component and for successful structural analysis. As in other systems, some of these telomeric factors will be exclusive to each organism, and this should facilitate the choice of specific targets for the design of novel telomericspecific, antiparasite drugs with minimal side effects in the mammalian host.
10 Chiurrillo, M.A. et al. (1999) Organization of telomeric and sub-telomeric regions of chromosomes from the protozoa parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 100, 173–183 11 Freitas-Junior, L. et al. (1999) Identification of telomere in Trypanosoma cruzi reveals highly heterogeneous telomere lenghts in different parasite strains. Nucleic Acids Res. 27, 2451–2456 12 Fu, G. and Barker, D. (1998) Characterisation of Leishmania telomeres reveals unsual telomeric repeats and conserved telomereassociated sequence. Nucleic Acids Res. 26, 2161–2167 13 Myler, P. et al. (2000) Genomic organization and gene function in Leishmania. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 28, 527–531 14 Horn, D. et al. (2000) Telomere maintenance and length regulation in Trypanosoma brucei. EMBO J. 19, 2332–2339 15 Blackburn, E.H. (2000) Telomere states and cell fates. Nature 408, 53–56 16 Marcand, S. et al. (1997) A protein-counting mechanism for telomere length regulation in yeast. Science 275, 986–990
17 Eid, J. and Sollner-Webb, B. (1997) ST-2, a telomere and subtelomere duplex and G-strand binding protein activity in Trypanosoma brucei. J. Biol. Chem. 272, 14927–14936 18 Field, H. and Field, M. (1996) Leptomonas seymouri, Trypanosoma brucei: a method for isolating trypanosomatid nuclear factors which bind T. brucei single-stranded G-rich telomere sequence. Exp. Parasitol. 83, 155–158 19 Berberof, M. et al. (2000) A single-stranded DNA-binding protein shared by telomeric repeats, the variant surface glycoprotein transcription promoter and the procyclin transcription terminator of Trypanosoma brucei. Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 597–604 20 Yahiaoui, B. et al. (1996) A Leishmania major protein with extensive homology to the silent information regulator 2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Gene 169, 115–118 21 McKay, S. and Cooke, H. (1992) hnRNP A2/B1 binds specifically to single stranded vertebrate telomeric repeat TTAGGGn. Nucleic Acids Res. 20, 6461–6464 22 Chiurrillo, M.A. et al. (2000) Cloning and characterization of Leishmania donovani telomeres. Exp.Parasitol. 94, 248–258
Websites of interest • Website of European mosquito taxonomists http://www.sove.org/motax/ • EMBL-Align Database The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Hinxton has set up a new database at http://srs.ebi.ac.uk/ as a repository for nucleotide and protein alignments generated from phylogenetic and population studies. WEBIN-Align Tool at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/ Submission/ is a new web-based tool for submission, annotation and display of sequence alignment data. • Websites in answer to FAQs about malaria: The status of malaria vaccine development http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/malaria/malariavac.htm • Information about malaria for travellers http://www.who.int/ith/english/country.htm • Pictures of adult mosquitoes http://www.arbovirus.health.nsw.gov.au/ http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/ http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/gallery.htm • Health InterNetwork: Access to Research Initiative Opening access to primary biomedical information to developing countries Publisher’s Statement of Intent http://www.who.int/library/reference/temp/Statement_of_intent.pdf
http://parasites.trends.com
TRENDS in Parasitology Vol.17 No.9 September 2001
to date are very interesting. The Parasite Genome Network (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/parasites/parasitegenome.html) interlinking protein and DNA sequence information will probably be important for identifying functional orthologues or specific components of the trypanosomatid telomeric chromatin, for comparing the expression of telomeric genes and for exploiting the synteny between different species. Exploring the telomere structure of very ancient eukaryotes could help to establish the evolutionary relationships between the factors that References 1 Pryde, F. et al. (1997) Chromosome ends: all the same under their caps. Cur. Opin. Genet. Dev. 7, 822–828 2 O’Reilly, M. et al. (1999) Telomerases. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 9, 56–65 3 Cano, M.I. et al. (1999) Telomerase in kinetoplastid parasitic protozoa. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 3616–3621 4 Kass-Eiler, A. and Greider, C. (2000) Recombination in telomere-length maintenance. Trends Biochem. Sci. 25, 200–204 5 Urquidi, V. et al. (2000) Role of telomerase in cell senescence and oncogenesis. Annu. Rev. Med. 51, 65–79 6 Johnston, D. et al. (1999) Genomics and the biology of parasites. BioEssays 21, 131–147 7 Cross, G. (1996) Antigenic variation in trypanosomes: secrets surface slowly. BioEssays 18, 283–291 8 Rudenko, G. (2000) The polymorphic telomeres of the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 28, 536–540 9 Muñoz-Jordan, J. et al. (2001) t-loops at trypanosome telomeres. EMBO J. 20, 579–588
429
allow telomeres to contribute to the cell life span in eukaryotes. Exploring telomere dynamics during the parasite life cycle will be essential for understanding the function of each telomeric component and for successful structural analysis. As in other systems, some of these telomeric factors will be exclusive to each organism, and this should facilitate the choice of specific targets for the design of novel telomericspecific, antiparasite drugs with minimal side effects in the mammalian host.
10 Chiurrillo, M.A. et al. (1999) Organization of telomeric and sub-telomeric regions of chromosomes from the protozoa parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 100, 173–183 11 Freitas-Junior, L. et al. (1999) Identification of telomere in Trypanosoma cruzi reveals highly heterogeneous telomere lenghts in different parasite strains. Nucleic Acids Res. 27, 2451–2456 12 Fu, G. and Barker, D. (1998) Characterisation of Leishmania telomeres reveals unsual telomeric repeats and conserved telomereassociated sequence. Nucleic Acids Res. 26, 2161–2167 13 Myler, P. et al. (2000) Genomic organization and gene function in Leishmania. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 28, 527–531 14 Horn, D. et al. (2000) Telomere maintenance and length regulation in Trypanosoma brucei. EMBO J. 19, 2332–2339 15 Blackburn, E.H. (2000) Telomere states and cell fates. Nature 408, 53–56 16 Marcand, S. et al. (1997) A protein-counting mechanism for telomere length regulation in yeast. Science 275, 986–990
17 Eid, J. and Sollner-Webb, B. (1997) ST-2, a telomere and subtelomere duplex and G-strand binding protein activity in Trypanosoma brucei. J. Biol. Chem. 272, 14927–14936 18 Field, H. and Field, M. (1996) Leptomonas seymouri, Trypanosoma brucei: a method for isolating trypanosomatid nuclear factors which bind T. brucei single-stranded G-rich telomere sequence. Exp. Parasitol. 83, 155–158 19 Berberof, M. et al. (2000) A single-stranded DNA-binding protein shared by telomeric repeats, the variant surface glycoprotein transcription promoter and the procyclin transcription terminator of Trypanosoma brucei. Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 597–604 20 Yahiaoui, B. et al. (1996) A Leishmania major protein with extensive homology to the silent information regulator 2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Gene 169, 115–118 21 McKay, S. and Cooke, H. (1992) hnRNP A2/B1 binds specifically to single stranded vertebrate telomeric repeat TTAGGGn. Nucleic Acids Res. 20, 6461–6464 22 Chiurrillo, M.A. et al. (2000) Cloning and characterization of Leishmania donovani telomeres. Exp.Parasitol. 94, 248–258
Websites of interest • Website of European mosquito taxonomists http://www.sove.org/motax/ • EMBL-Align Database The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Hinxton has set up a new database at http://srs.ebi.ac.uk/ as a repository for nucleotide and protein alignments generated from phylogenetic and population studies. WEBIN-Align Tool at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/ Submission/ is a new web-based tool for submission, annotation and display of sequence alignment data. • Websites in answer to FAQs about malaria: The status of malaria vaccine development http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/malaria/malariavac.htm • Information about malaria for travellers http://www.who.int/ith/english/country.htm • Pictures of adult mosquitoes http://www.arbovirus.health.nsw.gov.au/ http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/ http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/gallery.htm • Health InterNetwork: Access to Research Initiative Opening access to primary biomedical information to developing countries Publisher’s Statement of Intent http://www.who.int/library/reference/temp/Statement_of_intent.pdf
http://parasites.trends.com