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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Med Hypotheses. 2011 Feb 1;76(5):638–642. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.01.019

Figure 2. VSG genes in Tripanosome brucei.

Figure 2

The genome of the parasite T. brucei has more than 1000 VSG genes and only one gene (filled boxes) is expressed at a given time. In average, the genetic pattern of expression (i.e. which VSG gene is transcribed) will be transmitted through ~100 T. brucei generations before a switch of transcription. Because different T. brucei parasites may express different VSG genes, the assignment of functional loci to fixed genomic positions has no functional sense.