Gene organization of the VSG 10.1 donor copy. (A) The location
and coding strand of the genes and repeat elements in BAC clone
45I2 are indicated by boxes. Genes or repeat elements shown above
the line are located on the ‘top’ strand and are
oriented towards the telomere (black circle), whereas those shown below
the line are located on the ‘bottom’ strand and
oriented away from the telomere. Black boxes indicate known genes
and genes with significant homology to known genes (see Table 1). White boxes designate hypothetical genes
with no significant homology to known genes. Numbers 1–35
refer to the 35 adjacent ORFs oriented away from the telomere. Gray
boxes specify repeat elements (RIME, INGI and 70 bp repeats), pseudo
genes, and a PARP transcription terminator. The region
beginning in the 70 bp repeats and extending through VSG 10.1
has been duplicated in the GUTat 10.1 B-ES. (B)
Comparison of the putative VSG 10.1 M-ES to the
M-ESs of VSG 1.22, VSG 1.61 and
MVAT5 VSG. Regions in the putative VSG 10.1
M-ES with >80% sequence identity to other M-ESs
are indicated (VSG 1.22, white box; VSG 1.61,
diagonal lined box; MVAT5 VSG, crosshatched box).
The MVAT5 promoter is indicated by a closed flag. Sequences within
the VSG 10.1, VSG 1.22 and VSG 1.61
M-ESs that have homology to the MVAT5 promoter are marked by an
open flag. Black boxes indicate ESAG 1 and VSG genes. Gray
boxes indicate pseudo-ESAG 1 genes and 70 bp repeats.
(C) Nucleotide sequence comparison of the MVAT4,
5 and 7 M-ES promoters to sequences from the VSG 10.1, VSG 1.22 and VSG 1.61 M-ESs. Shaded
residues are conserved in at least four of the six sequences shown.