Mosaic VSGs and the Scale of Trypanosoma brucei Antigenic Variation

A main determinant of prolonged Trypanosoma brucei infection and transmission and success of the parasite is the interplay between host acquired immunity and antigenic variation of the parasite variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat. About 0.1% of trypanosome divisions produce a switch to a different VSG through differential expression of an archive of hundreds of silent VSG genes and pseudogenes, but the patterns and extent of the trypanosome diversity phenotype, particularly in chronic infection, are unclear. We applied longitudinal VSG cDNA sequencing to estimate variant richness and test whether pseudogenes contribute to antigenic variation. We show that individual growth peaks can contain at least 15 distinct variants, are estimated computationally to comprise many more, and that antigenically distinct ‘mosaic’ VSGs arise from segmental gene conversion between donor VSG genes or pseudogenes. The potential for trypanosome antigenic variation is probably much greater than VSG archive size; mosaic VSGs are core to antigenic variation and chronic infection.
Author Summary Trypanosoma brucei—a deadly parasite of humans and animals—owes its success to its ability to cope with host immunity, and the mechanism it uses to do so is a remarkable example of biological variation. Immune responses that develop against the parasite surface coat are only partially effective against the parasite population; some individual parasites will have already switched to a different variant of the coat antigen, and thus survive to prolong infection. Little is known about how the pattern of antigen variation unfolds, particularly after the early stage of infection. Here, we examined different antigen variants that appeared over the course of infection, to estimate their diversity and to see whether the parasites are able to generate new antigen variants by combination. We found antigen diversity was much greater than expected, and that ‘mosaic’ variants—produced by combining bits of more than one antigen gene—played a central role in the later stages of infection. These results provide important evidence for the robustness of this key survival strategy, provide clues about its evolution, and allow us to identify patterns in common with other antigenically variable pathogens.