Ralph Stuart A, Scherf Artur
Institut Pasteur, Biology of Host-Parasite Interactions, URA 2581, 25 Rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2005 Aug;8(4):434-40. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2005.06.007.
Much of what is known about antigenic variation in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has been established by the study of phenotypic changes at the surface of parasitized red blood cells. Although this has contributed to our fundamental understanding of immune escape, nothing conclusive has been elucidated about the molecular mechanisms that determine activation and silencing of members of the antigenic variation var gene family. Recent findings indicate that reversible chromatin modifications and perinuclear gene movement are epigenetic factors that define the silent and active states of telomere-adjacent var genes.
关于人类疟原虫恶性疟原虫抗原变异的许多已知信息是通过对受感染红细胞表面表型变化的研究而确立的。尽管这有助于我们从根本上理解免疫逃逸，但对于决定抗原变异var基因家族成员激活和沉默的分子机制，尚未阐明任何确凿的结论。最近的研究结果表明，可逆的染色质修饰和核周基因移动是定义端粒相邻var基因沉默和激活状态的表观遗传因素。
