The Disease

Protozoan parasites within the species Trypanosoma brucei are the etiological agent of human sleeping sickness and Nagana in animals. Infections are limited to patches of sub-Saharan Africa where insects vectors of the Glossina genus are endemic. The most recent estimates indicate between 50,000 - 70,000 human cases currently exist, with 17 000 new cases each year (WHO Factsheet, 2006).

For more information/stats, etc., we recommend the WHO website.

The Genome

T. brucei possesses a two-unit genome, a nuclear genome and a mitochondrial (kinetoplast) genome with a total estimated size of 35Mb/haploid genome. The nuclear genome is split into three classes of chromosomes according to their size on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, 11 pairs of megabase chromosomes (0.9-5.7 Mb), intermediate (300-900 kb) and minichromosomes (50-100 kb). The T. brucei genome contains a ~0.5Mb segmental duplication affecting chromosomes 4 and 8, which is responsible for some 75 gene duplicates unique to this species. A comparative chromosome map of the duplicons can be accessed here (PubmedID 18036214).

The Database

GeneDB has been funded by Wellcome Trust to provide full curation support for kinetoplastida genomes to meet the needs of the community. New annotations are constantly being added to keep up with published manuscripts and feedback from the Trypanosomatid research community. In collaboration with GeneDB, the EuPathDB genomic sequence data and annotations are regularly deposited on TriTrypDB where they can be integrated with other datasets and queried using customized queries.

Data Release

The genome of the T. brucei TREU 927 has been published in Berriman et al. 2005, Science 309(5733):416-422 and is available for use without restriction. However, the annotation is pro-actively updated and curated. If you find the this resource helpful in your research, acknowledging the project in your publications will help insure its longevity.