Specific histone modifications play critical roles in the control of encystation and antigenic variation in the early-branching eukaryote Giardia lamblia

CARRANZA, PEDRO G.; GARGANTINI, PABLO R.; PRUCCA, CÉSAR G.; TORRI, ALESSANDRO; SAURA, ALICIA; SVÄRD, STAFFAN; LUJAN, HUGO D.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2016 vol. 81 p. 32 - 32

1357-2725

uring evolution, parasitic microorganisms have faced the challenges of adapting to different environments to colonize a variety of hosts. Giardia lamblia, a common cause of intestinal disease, has developed fascinating strategies to adapt both outside and inside its host´s intestine, such as trophozoite differentiation into cyst and the switching of its major surface antigens. How gene expression is regulated during these adaptive processes remains undefined. Giardia lacks some typical eukaryotic features, like canonical transcription factors, linker histone H1, and complex promoter regions; suggesting that post-transcriptional and translational control of gene expression is essential for parasite survival. However, epigenetic factors may also play critical roles at the transcriptional level. Here, we describe the most common post-translational histone modifications; characterize enzymes involved in these reactions, and analyze their association with the Giardia´s differentiation proc