Diverse patterns of expression of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene and unassigned reading frames 4 and 5 during the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei.

Transcription of a maxicircle segment from Trypanosoma brucei 164 that contains nucleotide (nt) sequences corresponding to cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and unassigned reading frames (URFs) 4 and 5 of other mitochondrial systems was investigated. Two major transcripts that differ in size by ca. 200 nt map to each of the COI and URF4 genes, while a single major transcript maps to URF5. In total RNA, the larger COI transcript is more abundant in procyclic forms (PFs) than in bloodstream forms (BFs), the smaller COI and both URF4 transcripts have similar abundances in both forms, and the single URF5 transcript is more abundant in BF than PF. These patterns of expression differ in poly(A)+ RNA as a result of a higher proportion of poly(A)+ mitochondrial transcripts in PFs than in BFs. In addition, small (300- to 500-nt) RNAs that are transcribed from C-rich sequences located between putative protein-coding genes also exhibit diverse patterns of expression between life cycle stages and differences in polyadenylation in PFs compared with BFs. These observations suggest that multiple processes regulate the differential expression of mitochondrial genes in T. brucei.