title: Inhibition of host cell cytokinesis by Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVES. Chlamydia has to replicate in cytoplasmic vacuoles of eukaryotic cells. To understand how chlamydia interacts with host cells during cell division, we examined the effect of chlamydial infection on host cell cycle.
  
  
  METHODS
  An immunofluorescence microscopic approach was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the number of cells was significantly reduced in chlamydia-infected cultures, multiple nuclei were detected in the infected cells, indicating that chlamydia inhibited host cell growth by selectively blocking cytokinesis while allowing mitosis to proceed. The chlamydial inhibition of host cell cytokinesis was confirmed with various strains of Chlamydia trachomatis and in several types of host cells. Furthermore, the chlamydial inhibitory effect was found to depend on chlamydial protein synthesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These observations suggest that chlamydia may have evolved specific mechanisms for actively blocking host cell cytokinesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, 78230, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Whitney
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence