<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rich, S M</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sawyer, S A</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Barbour, A G</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antigen polymorphism in Borrelia hermsii, a clonal pathogenic bacterium.</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A</style></secondary-title><alt-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</style></alt-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antigens, Bacterial</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Base Sequence</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Borrelia</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">DNA, Bacterial</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Polymorphism, Genetic</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2001</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2001 Dec 18</style></date></pub-dates></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">98</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">15038-43</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia hermsii, escapes immune selection by alternating expression of surface lipoprotein alleles. The switch results from a duplicative transposition of one of several surface lipoprotein-encoding nucleotide sequences into the singular expression site. These nucleotide sequences constitute a large gene family whose diversity originated, in some cases, before the major divergences of Borrelia species. We have examined the B. hermsii vsp subfamily of alleles, which are carried on linear plasmids within each cell and maintained in several diverse copies as an antigenic archive. Each encodes a distinct serotype-specific protein. We sequenced more than 90% of the alleles within a single strain-B. hermsii strain HS1. A preponderance of allelic mosaicism suggests that intragenic recombination, coupled with selection imposed by host immune response, has driven diversification of the archived ensemble of vsp alleles. The recombinational diversification of vsp alleles generates change in the associated serotypes of the magnitude (30-40% amino acid differentiation) necessary for overcoming cross-reactivity of neutralizing antibodies. We conclude that evolution of vsp has occurred by punctuated occurrence of allelic differentiation, rather than by gradual selection of incremental point mutations that do not meet the threshold for antigenic diversity.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">26</style></issue><custom1><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11742066?dopt=Abstract</style></custom1></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ayala, F J</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rich, S M</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Genetic variation and the recent worldwide expansion of Plasmodium falciparum.</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Gene</style></secondary-title><alt-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Gene</style></alt-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Animals</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antigens, Protozoan</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Base Sequence</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Genetic Variation</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Merozoite Surface Protein 1</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Molecular Sequence Data</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Phylogeny</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Plasmodium</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Plasmodium falciparum</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Polymorphism, Genetic</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Protozoan Proteins</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">RNA, Ribosomal</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Species Specificity</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2000</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2000 Dec 30</style></date></pub-dates></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">261</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">161-70</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Plasmodium falciparum, the agent of human malignant malaria, diverged from Plasmodium reichenowi, the chimpanzee parasite, about the time the human and chimpanzee lineages diverged from each other. The absence of synonymous nucleotide variation at ten loci indicates that the world populations of P. falciparum derive most recently from one single strain, or 'cenancestor,' which lived a few thousand years ago. Antigenic genes of P. falciparum (such as Csp, Msp-1, and Msp-2) exhibit numerous polymorphisms that have been estimated to be millions of years old. We have discovered in these antigenic genes short repetitive sequences that distort the alignment of alleles and account for the apparent old age of the polymorphisms. The processes of intragenic recombination that generate the repeats occur at rates about 10(-3) to 10(-2), several orders of magnitude greater than the typical mutational process of nucleotide substitutions. We conclude that the antigenic polymorphisms of P. falciparum are consistent with a recent expansion of the world populations of the parasite from a cenancestor that lived in tropical Africa a few thousand years ago.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1</style></issue><custom1><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11164047?dopt=Abstract</style></custom1></record></records></xml>