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Infect Immun, August 1998, p. 3727-3735, Vol. 66, No. 8
Departments of Pharmacology and
Therapeutics1 and
Medical
Microbiology,2 University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3E 0W3
Received 10 March 1998/Returned for modification 30 April
1998/Accepted 29 May 1998
Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular
eubacterial parasite capable of infecting a wide range of eucaryotic
host cells. Purified chlamydiae contain several lipids typically found in eucaryotes, and it has been established that eucaryotic lipids are
transported from the host cell to the parasite. In this report, we
examine the phospholipid composition of C. trachomatis
purified from host cells grown under a variety of conditions in which
the cellular phospholipid composition was altered. A mutant CHO cell line, with a thermolabile CDP-choline synthetase, was used to show that
decreased host cell phosphatidylcholine levels had no significant
effect on C. trachomatis growth. However, less
phosphatidylcholine was transported to the parasite and purified
elementary bodies contained decreased levels of phosphatidylcholine.
Brefeldin A, fumonisin B1, and exogenous sphingomyelinase
were used to alter levels of host cell sphingomyelin. None of the
agents had a significant effect on C. trachomatis
replication. Treatment with fumonisin B1 and exogenous
sphingomyelinase resulted in decreased levels of host cell
sphingomyelin. This had no effect on glycerophospholipid trafficking to
chlamydiae; however, sphingomyelin trafficking was reduced and
elementary bodies purified from treated cells had reduced sphingomyelin
content. Exposure to brefeldin A, which had no adverse effect on
chlamydia growth, resulted in an increase in cellular levels of
sphingomyelin and a concomitant increase in the amount of sphingomyelin
in purified chlamydiae. Under the experimental conditions used,
brefeldin A treatment had only a small effect on sphingomyelin
trafficking to the host cell surface or to C. trachomatis.
Thus, the final phospholipid composition of purified C. trachomatis mimics that of the host cell in which it is grown.
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Phospholipid Composition of Purified
Chlamydia trachomatis Mimics That of the Eucaryotic
Host Cell
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Medical Microbiology, Room 504, Basic Medical Sciences Building,
University of Manitoba, 730 William Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3E 0W3. Phone: (204) 789-3307. Fax: (204) 789-3926. E-mail:
mcclart{at}cc.umanitoba.ca.
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