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. 1983 Mar;80(6):1536–1540. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.6.1536

Reverse transcription of trypanosome variable antigen mRNAs initiated by a specific oligonucleotide primer.

S C Merritt, C Tschudi, W H Konigsberg, F F Richards
PMCID: PMC393636  PMID: 6188156

Abstract

African trypanosomes change their antigenicity by successively expressing different members of a group of related but highly diverse proteins, the variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs). We describe a synthetic oligonucleotide that can prime specifically reverse transcription of VSG mRNA out of total trypanosome poly(A)+ RNA. The specificity of this priming was verified by cDNA sequence analysis of the transcription products and by the demonstration of variant-specific hybridization of the individual cDNAs to cellular RNA. The oligonucleotide primer also was used as a probe for the conserved sequence found on these VSG mRNAs in trypanosome genomic DNA libraries. A large number of primer-positive clones were detected in a Trypanosoma gambiense genomic library, but very few positive signals were found in a library of Trypanosoma congolense genomic DNA.

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