title: Plasmid deficiency in urogenital isolates of Chlamydia trachomatis reduces infectivity and virulence in a mouse model.
abstract: We hypothesized that the plasmid of urogenital isolates of Chlamydia trachomatis would modulate infectivity and virulence in a mouse model. To test this hypothesis, we infected female mice in the respiratory or urogenital tract with graded doses of a human urogenital isolate of C. trachomatis, serovar F, possessing the cognate plasmid. For comparison, we inoculated mice with a plasmid-free serovar F isolate. Following urogenital inoculation, the plasmid-free isolate displayed significantly reduced infectivity compared with the wild-type strain with the latter yielding a 17-fold lower infectious dose to yield 50% infection. When inoculated via the respiratory tract, the plasmid-free isolate exhibited reduced infectivity and virulence (as measured by weight change) when compared to the wild-type isolate. Further, differences in infectivity, but not in virulence were observed in a C. trachomatis, serovar E isolate with a deletion within the plasmid coding sequence 1 when compared to a serovar E isolate with no mutations in the plasmid. We conclude that plasmid loss reduces virulence and infectivity in this mouse model. These findings further support a role for the chlamydial plasmid in infectivity and virulence in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology Department, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Ira M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Sigar
authors.forename: Justin H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Schripsema
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ian N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Lesley T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Cutcliffe
authors.forename: Helena M B
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Seth-Smith
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bjartling
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unemo
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.forename: Kyle H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ramsey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000382:microbiology; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Chlamydia; genome; infection; mouse; plasmid; virulence
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