Developmental Progression to Infectivity in Trypanosoma brucei Triggered by an RNA-Binding Protein

Abstract

Awakening a Life Cycle Sleeping sickness continues to afflict populations in sub-Saharan Africa, but for the past 100 years, research on the Trypanosoma brucei protozoan parasite has been hampered by an inaccessibility of the insect vector stages to modern research tools. Kolev et al. (p. 1352 ) have identified an RNA-binding protein (RBP6) as a master regulator that drives the entire developmental program of the trypanosome through all its life-cycle stages. The ability to perform this transformation in vitro will allow study of the many biochemical and morphological changes as parasites change from dividing noninfectious forms to infectious nondividing antigenically variable forms.