Faria Tryps Lab

(1/7) How does T. brucei achieve a 140-fold stoichiometric excess of VSG mRNA over upstream ESAGs from a single polycistronic unit? Our latest research in @natmicrobiol.nature.com reveals a mechanism of spatially regulated RNA decay to fine-tune expression of virulence genes

Intertwining genome organisation and gene regulation in Leishmania pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42918646/

Unveiling the structure of <em>Leishmania</em> flagella through cryoelectron tomography pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42905547/

Ubiquitinome dynamics and regulation by DUB2 during Leishmania differentiation pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42906851/

Unveiling the structure of Leishmania flagella through cryoelectron tomography pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42905547/

A trans-splicing model for poly(A)-tail addition during VSG mRNA maturation in Trypanosoma brucei www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.18.760011v1

IMO the paper of the year in the gene regulation field - such a clean and clear study, showing how promoter-enhancer contacts mediate transcriptional activation. www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Anatomy and mechanics of tsetse fly blood feeding pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42865118/

AKT-like kinase regulates early steps in the Trypanosoma brucei quorum sensing signalling pathway www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.13.758553v1

An improved Trypanosoma vivax genome assembly confirms the distinct organisation of its variant antigen repertoire www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.08.757617v1

New from the Horn Lab @ University of Dundee and the Tomás Lab @ i3S in Porto academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

@emmamariebriggs.bsky.social and I paired up for a scRNAseq exp eons ago to look at cell cycle regulated genes in Leish... The analysis evolved over time, incorporated other datasets in the lab, and looked for life cycle forms in vitro. We now bring you what we found! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Single-cell transcriptomics reveals life cycle and cell cycle gene expression dynamics during in vitro growth of two Leishmania species www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755301v1

The C-terminus of the KREH1 helicase is important for RNA binding and association with mitochondrial RNA editing complexes in T. brucei www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.753996v1

The kinetoplastid-specific transcription factor mtTF1 is essential for mitochondrial gene expression and maxicircle replication in Trypanosoma brucei pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42766646/

H2A.Z-H2B.V nucleosomes form a specialised scaffold for transcription initiation in Trypanosoma brucei www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752700v1

Different Transcriptomic Responses After Moderate and Severe Heat Shock in Trypanosoma cruzi Epimastigotes pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42717444/

Zinc-dependent turnover of ZIP3 transporter mRNA by trypanosome ZNK1 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42728798/

CyChat: a conversational Cytoscape app for no-code, reproducible network analysis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.747833v1

We really enjoyed writing this piece, which we hope will stimulate research in this area in T. brucei and other Kinetoplastids!

De novo assembly of the Trypanosoma congolense genome reveals an organisation influenced by antigenic variation but distinct from Trypanosoma brucei pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42640060/

Laboratory meetings are part of the research experience, but they don’t always have to be so formulaic. Nature's Careers team collected 22 tips from researchers about traditions or recurring agenda items that can liven things up. #Academicsky 🧪

Replicative slender bloodstream forms complete transmission of Trypanosoma brucei without prior differentiation into stumpy forms pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42616583/

Dynamic SUMOylation Controls RNA Polymerase I Extranucleolar Organization and Antigenic Variation in Trypanosoma brucei www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.14.744927v1

Perturb-ME: Scalable mechanism discovery from phenotype-enriched genome-wide screens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.17.745330v1

The centromere localization domain of kinetoplastid kinetochore protein KKT2 recognizes the free N-terminus of histone H3 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.13.744621v1

Degrade Green Fluorescent Protein (deGradFP) Method in Trypanosoma brucei pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42573699/

An Auxin-Inducible Degron System for Trypanosomes pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42573698/

Genome-wide mapping of replication stress response factors reveals the management of polycistronic transcription, replication initiation, and responses to replication stress in Leishmania pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42573071/

An agent-based model of Trypanosoma brucei social motility to explore determinants of colony pattern formation pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42585258/

Five-layer systems analysis of Leishmania stage differentiation reveals an essential role for protein degradation in parasite development pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42583824/

The underappreciated role of antigenic drift in Trypanosoma brucei immune evasion pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42567749/

Optimising Electroporation Protocols for Trypanosoma brucei Using the Amaxa 4D- Nucleofector System pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42567230/

Identification of feeding apparatus components in a heterotrophic marine flagellate pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42565280/

Trypanosoma congolense Variant Surface Glycoprotein gene expression occurs in the absence of monoallelic transcription control www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.741978v1

Restricted expression site use and extreme genome diversification drives trypanosome antigenic variation in chronic bovine infections www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.741217v1

The IFT-A complex plays a major role in the assembly of anterograde intraflagellar transport trains www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.03.736119v1

Genome-wide mapping of DNA G-quadruplexes in Trypanosoma brucei chromatin reveals enrichment in coding regions and transcription start sites pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42376815/

Initiation codon context governs translation-coupled mRNA decay and coordinated expression in the human parasite Leishmania www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.01.735800v1

Detecting DNA methylation patterns suggestive of variable escape from X-chromosome inactivation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.15.732395v1

Our #Trypanosoma cruzi single-cell atlas paper is now available online! Great work by Ross Laidlaw and Marta Garcia Sanchez, and excellent collaboration with Thomas Otto! rdcu.be/flOWR @ddu-dundee.bsky.social, @dundeeuni.bsky.social #single-cell, #Chagas, #atlas, #trypanosome, #scRNA-seq 🧪🔬

Trypanosoma cruzi cell atlas as a single-cell resource for understanding parasite population heterogeneity and differentiation pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42185256/

Big thanks to Markus Engstler for highlighting our work recently published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com

(1/7) A new study from the Faria Lab in Nature Microbiology identifies a novel mechanism of spatially regulated RNA decay used to fine-tune the expression of virulence genes in T. brucei parasites. @fariatrypslab.bsky.social @ybri-uoy.bsky.social

Very happy to have contributed some confirmatory experiments to Jaclyn Smith and Monica Mugnier's excellent paper - out now @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social @rmc9z.bsky.social

Thank you so much to everyone who made it to #BSP2026 in beautiful, sunny Glasgow!!! (We asked the weather to behave while everyone was around)! The @bspparasitology.bsky.social 2027 meeting will be in Cardiff! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves! Like Glasgow, People Make #Parasitology! 🥳🧬🧫🔬

🧑‍🔬 The program for the scientific session of the ParaFrap Next Generation in Parasitology Workshop is now available! 🎟️ A few places are still available to attend the session in Montpellier. Registration is free but mandatory. 👉 forms.gle/q1ZZJbqu87CD...

Out Now! Specialized RNA decay fine-tunes monogenic antigen expression in Trypanosoma brucei #MicroSky