The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is auxotrophic for three of the four ribonucleoside triphosphates.
Using well-characterized mutant host cell lines, deficient in specific enzymes of energy and nucleotide metabolism, we addressed numerous questions regarding nucleotide metabolism in the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. The results presented indicate that C. trachomatis: (i) does not absolutely depend on mitochondrial generated ATP for survival; (ii) does have a significant draw on host-cell NTP pools but does not have a detrimental effect on the ability of the host cell to maintain its energy charge; (iii) lacks the ability to synthesize purine and pyrimidine nucleotides de novo; (iv) is not capable of interconverting purine nucleotides; and (v) possesses the pyrimidine metabolic-pathway enzymes CTP synthetase and deoxycytidine nucleotide deaminase. In total our results indicate that C. trachomatis is auxotrophic for host-cell ATP, GTP and UTP. In contrast, CTP can be obtained from the host cell or it can be synthesized from UTP by the parasite.
Tipples
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Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
McClarty
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D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016466:CHO Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D019731:Carbon-Nitrogen Ligases; D002460:Cell Line; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D008025:Ligases / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung; D009700:Nucleoside Deaminases / Q000378:metabolism; D012265:Ribonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism*; D014544:Uridine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012265:Ribonucleotides; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D009700:Nucleoside Deaminases; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase; C011530:deoxycytidine deaminase; D008025:Ligases; D019731:Carbon-Nitrogen Ligases; C019951:CTP synthetase; D014544:Uridine Triphosphate