Trypanosoma brucei ATR Links DNA Damage Signaling during Antigenic Variation with Regulation of RNA Polymerase I-Transcribed Surface Antigens

Summary: Trypanosoma brucei evades mammalian immunity by using recombination to switch its surface-expressed variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), while ensuring that only one of many subtelomeric multigene VSG expression sites are transcribed at a time. DNA repair activities have been implicated in the catalysis of VSG switching by recombination, not transcriptional control. How VSG switching is signaled to guide the appropriate reaction or to integrate switching into parasite growth is unknown. Here, we show that the loss of ATR, a DNA damage-signaling protein kinase, is lethal, causing nuclear genome instability and increased VSG switching through VSG-localized damage. Furthermore, ATR loss leads to the increased transcription of silent VSG expression sites and expression of mixed VSGs on the cell surface, effects that are associated with the altered localization of RNA polymerase I and VEX1. This work shows that ATR acts in antigenic variation both through DNA damage signaling and surface antigen expression control. : Black et al. show that the loss of ATR, a DNA damage-signaling kinase, is lethal to African trypanosomes and has two effects on surface VSG antigen expression: loss of controls ensuring that only one VSG is transcribed at once, and increased DNA damage that leads to the recombination of normally silent VSGs. Keywords: Trypanosoma brucei, antigenic variation, variant surface glycoprotein, monoallelic expression, RNA polymerase I, protein kinase, ATR, DNA damage signaling, DNA replication stress, immune evasion