The Trypanosoma brucei genome sequencing project is a consortium consisting of TIGR and The Sanger Institute.
The Sanger Institute sequenced chromosomes: I (1.85 Mb), IX (3.5 Mb), X (4.4 Mb)and XI (5.2 Mb) using the whole chromosome shotgun (WCS) strategy (8-10x coverage of each chromosome). Chromosomes II-VIII were sequenced at TIGR by generating a 20 Mb of discontinuous sequence (first step) followed by 5-6 Mb of continuous sequence (second step).
Chromosome I is fully sequenced, assembled, annotated and was published in the year 2003. The genomic sequences and analyses of the 11 megabase-sized chromosomes were published in the year 2005. The annotation of chromosomes II-XI is being completed. An overview of the sequence status is given by the Sanger Institute.
The T. brucei genome is 26 Mb in size and it contains 9068 predicted genes, approximately 1700 of which are T. brucei-specific.
A comparison of the genomes of T. brucei, T. cruzi and Leishmania major revealed differences in the metabolic pathways of these parasites, and several drug targets have been proposed.
The T. brucei genome sequence data and annotation are available at GenBank with accession numbers AL929603 and AE017150 for chromosomes I and II, respectively; consecutive accession numbers CP000066 to CP000071 for chromosomes III-VIII, and accession numbers CM000207, CM000208 and CH464492 for the whole-chromosome shotgun projects of chromosomes 9 to 11.
Note: This strain is synonymous with Trypanosoma brucei brucei 927/4 GUTat10.1. Less...