Pathogenic Diversity among Chlamydia trachomatis Ocular Strains in Nonhuman Primates Is Affected by Subtle Genomic Variations

Chlamydia trachomatis is the etiological agent of trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness. Trachoma presents distinct clinical syndromes ranging from mild and self-limiting to severe inflammatory disease. The underlying host and pathogen factors responsible for these diverse clinical ou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2008-02, Vol.197 (3), p.449-456
Main Authors: Kari, Laszlo, Whitmire, William M., Carlson, John H., Crane, Deborah D., Reveneau, Nathalie, Nelson, David E., Mabey, David C. W., Bailey, Robin L., Holland, Martin J., McClarty, Grant, Caldwell, Harlan D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Chlamydia trachomatis
Chlamydia trachomatis - genetics
Chlamydia trachomatis - isolation & purification
Chlamydia trachomatis - pathogenicity
Follicles
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic Variation
Genome, Bacterial
Genomes
Genomics
Genotypes
HeLa Cells
Humans
Infections
Macaca fascicularis
Male
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Neglected diseases
Open reading frames
Polymorphism, Genetic
Primates
Primates - microbiology
Trachoma
Trachoma - microbiology
Virulence
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Summary:Chlamydia trachomatis is the etiological agent of trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness. Trachoma presents distinct clinical syndromes ranging from mild and self-limiting to severe inflammatory disease. The underlying host and pathogen factors responsible for these diverse clinical outcomes are unclear. To assess the role played by pathogen variation in disease outcome, we analyzed the genomes of 4 trachoma strains representative of the 3 major trachoma serotypes, using microarray-based comparative genome sequencing. Outside of ompA, trachoma strains differed primarily in a very small subset of genes (n = 22). These subtle genetic variations were manifested in profound differences in virulence as measured by in vitro growth rate, burst size, plaque morphology, and interferon-γ sensitivity but most importantly in virulence as shown by ocular infection of non-humanprimates. Ourfindings are the first to identify genes that correlate with differences in pathogenicityamong trachoma strains.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1086/525285