JERUSALEM, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have developed an innovative method for cracking the genome sequence of the deadly parasite Trypanosoma Brucei, which causes African trypanosomiasis ("sleeping sickness") in humans, the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) reported on Tuesday.
The researchers believe that this discovery may allow the development of treatments to protect the population prone to infection, the institute said in a published study.
Trypanosoma Brucei is transmitted between humans and other mammals by the tsetse fly, allowing the parasite to multiply in its salivary glands and infect the mammals whose blood it sucks.
The deadly disease is common in forests and water bodies in central Africa. It causes fevers, headaches, itchiness. joint pains, confusion, poor coordination, numbness, sleeping disorders and death.
The genome is the genetic information contained in the organism. This is a very complicated sequence that can contain billions of DNA units. Understanding the genome of the parasite should lead to the development of ways to delay its lethal activity.
The study, which was also attended by German, British and American researchers, analyzed the three-dimensional structure of this parasite's genome.
Today it is very easy to read millions of short segments of DNA, but not very long ones.
Therefore, the main challenge is correcting the arrangement of the short segments, that is assembling the genome like a puzzle.
The new technology measures the spatial proximity between DNA segments in the cells and bridged the dimensional gaps in assembling genomes.
The researchers found a unique connection between the spatial organization of the genome and the mechanism for replacing the antigen - the protein that the human immune system identifies.
This mechanism allows Trypanosoma Brucei to escape the immune system of the infected person.
