Discussion

The surfaces of the African trypanosomes are the interfaces between host and parasite. They are coated with a dense layer of variant surface glycoproteins, allowing a population of parasites to use mechanisms of antigenic variation to persist despite the attack of the mammalian immune system. Within this layer operate receptors which are used by the trypanosomes to scavenge nutrients and are exploited by human innate immunity as a route for lytic factor uptake. This talk will present our recent structural insights into how these receptors bind to their ligands and how they have evolved to avoid the mammalian immune defences.