Read on Twitter
Thrilled to see our paper out today in @NatureMicrobiol showing that spatial integration of transcription and splicing in a dedicated sub-nuclear compartment sustains singular antigen expression in trypanosomes. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00833-4
A great and fruitful collaboration between Horn and @siegel_lab 
@dundeeuni @UoDLifeSciences @WCAIRDundee @LMU_Muenchen @WiParasitology @par_papers
@dundeeuni @UoDLifeSciences @WCAIRDundee @LMU_Muenchen @WiParasitology @par_papers
We found that the active antigen-coding gene (active-VSG) is in close spatial proximity to an RNA maturation locus (the Spliced-Leader array) – these loci establish a strong and stable inter-chromosomal interaction
The recently identified VEX2 ( https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10823-8), a large RNA helicase that forms discrete protein condensates, ensures that only one antigen-coding gene can access the RNA maturation compartment at a time.
This nuclear arrangement provides an elegant mechanism that simultaneously sustains VSG monogenic transcription and post-transcriptional enhancement; in other words, trypanosomes assemble an antigen expression factory.
We used a combination of multiple techniques that included Hi-C, ChIP-Seq, RNA-Seq, DNA FISH and Super Resolution Microscopy, a great team effort by @VanessaLuzak Laura Muller @bgbrink @SebHutch_tryps @Glover_Tryplab David Horn@siegel_lab and myself
