Transcriptomic analyses of the avirulent protozoan parasite Trypanosoma rangeli

Two species of the genus Trypanosoma infective to humans have been extensively studied at a cell and molecular level, but study of the third, Trypanosoma rangeli, remains in relative infancy. T. rangeli is non-pathogenic, but is frequently mistaken for the related Chagas disease agent Trypanosoma cruzi with which it shares vectors, hosts, significant antigenicity and a sympatric distribution over a wide geographical area. In this study, we present the T. rangeli gene expression profile as determined by the generation of ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) and ORESTES (Open Reading Frame ESTs). A total of 4208 unique high quality sequences were analyzed, composed from epimastigote and trypomastigote forms of SC-58 and Choachí strains, representing the two major phylogenetic lineages of this species. Comparative analyses with T. cruzi and other parasitic kinetoplastid species allowed the assignment of putative biological functions to most of the sequences generated and the establishment of an annotated T. rangeli gene expression database. Even though T. rangeli is apathogenic to mammals, genes associated with virulence in other pathogenic kinetoplastids were found. Transposable elements and genes associated mitochondrial gene expression, specifically RNA editing components, are also described for the first time. Our studies confirm the close phylogenetic relationship between T. cruzi and T. rangeli and enable us to make an estimate for the size of the T. rangeli genome repertoire ( approximately 8500 genes).