Trypanosoma brucei EATRO1125 draft genome assembly (Contigs)

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei ssp, unicellular parasites causing human and animal trypanosomiasis, are transmitted between mammals by tsetse flies. Periodic changes in variant surface glycoproteins (VSG), which form the parasite coat in the mammal, allow them to evade the host immune response. Different isolates of T. brucei show heterogeneity in their repertoires of VSG genes and have single nucleotide polymorphisms and indels that can impact on genome editing. T. brucei brucei EATRO1125 (AnTaR1 serodeme) is an isolate that is used increasingly often because it is pleomorphic in mammals and fly transmissible, two characteristics that have been lost by the most commonly used laboratory stocks. We present a genome assembly of EATRO1125, including contigs for the intermediate and mini-chromosomes that serve as repositories of VSG genes. In addition, de novo transcriptome assemblies were performed using Illumina sequences from tsetse-derived trypanosomes.