Antigenic variation in the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia.

Antigenic variation in the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2016 May 10;32:52-58 Authors: Gargantini PR, Serradell MD, Ríos DN, Tenaglia AH, Luján HD Abstract Giardia lamblia trophozoites undergo antigenic variation, where one member of the Variant-specific Surface Protein (VSP) family is expressed on the surface of proliferating trophozoites and periodically replaced by another one. Two main questions have challenged researchers since antigenic switching was discovered in Giardia: What are the mechanisms involved? How are they influenced by other cellular processes or by the environment? Two molecular mechanisms have been proposed, both involving small non-coding RNAs. Here we postulate that (a) chromatin remodeling, triggered by environmental factors, also plays an important role in selecting the VSP that will be expressed and (b) the particular VSP structure may not only protect the parasite in the small intestine but also signal the need to exchange the existing VSP for another. PMID: 27177351 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research