|
|
||||||||
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UAMS, 4301 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
Correspondence
Catherine M. O'Connell
oconnellcatherine{at}uams.edu
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Currently, a genetic system for use in chlamydiae is lacking. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which the cryptic plasmid, a potential gene delivery vector, is maintained, and the ability to generate at high efficiency plasmid-deficient derivatives of the most highly characterized chlamydiae for use as recipient strains would advance progress in this area. We describe the curing of the mouse-virulent Chlamydia muridarum using novobiocin. Characterization of the cured strain revealed, in addition to a defect in the ability to accumulate glycogen, an in vitro attachment or uptake defect that could be partially overcome by centrifugation.
| METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
40 h) before harvesting in SPG buffer. An additional passage was then performed in an identical manner using
1/10th of the well harvest as inoculum. Two sequential rounds of infection usually resulted in stocks of
12x108 i.f.u. ml1 that were then used for further analysis. Plaquing efficiency under different culture conditions was evaluated by the titration of individual strains by a plaque-forming assay, with indicated modifications, in parallel with titration to estimate i.f.u. (Kelly et al., 1996
Iodine staining of chlamydia-infected cells.
McCoy cells cultured on glass cover slips in multiwell plates were infected as described above. After 40 h incubation, the culture medium was removed and the monolayer rinsed several times with 1x Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS) before being fixed and stained with iodine (Schachter & Dawson, 1978
) in order to detect the presence of accumulated glycogen. Stained cells were immediately photographed using a digital camera system and SPOT version 4.0.6 software from Diagnostic Instruments.
Detection of chlamydial plasmid or chromosome by PCR and Southern blotting.
Genomic material was routinely prepared for use as PCR template by boiling chlamydial suspensions containing 107 i.f.u. ml1 for more for 10 min, before diluting 10-fold in distilled H2O. PCR amplifications were performed using 5 µl of this preparation in a 20 µl reaction volume. Template preparations were amplified as follows: 95 °C, 30 s; 50 °C, 30 s; 72 °C, 30 s for 40 amplification cycles using the primer pairs described in Table 2
. Genomic DNA for Southern hybridization analysis was purified from chlamydia-infected cells using a kit obtained from Epicentre Biotechnologies. A plasmid-specific DIG-labelled (Roche Diagnostics) probe was generated by labelling, via random hexamer priming, the 7.5 kb PstI fragment of pCT01 (O'Connell & Maurelli, 1998
) which comprises the entire cryptic plasmid of C. trachomatis strain L2/434/Bu.
|
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
40 h after infection). Although the impact of drug treatment on the recovery of infectious chlamydiae was minimal at the lowest concentrations assayed, a novobiocin concentration of 62.5 µg ml1 reduced the relative infectious yield of bacteria by at least 100-fold. By extrapolation from studies with other micro-organisms (Gado et al., 1987
99 % of bacterial growth was inhibited by the antibiotic.
|
|
Plasmid-deficient C. muridarum is defective in accumulation of glycogen within inclusions
Previously, the three plasmid-deficient strains isolated by Matsumoto et al. (1998)
were shown to be unable to accumulate glycogen, as detected by iodine stain, within the intracytoplasmic inclusion formed by the growing bacteria. We used iodine staining of 40 h infected McCoy cells to determine the relative glycogen content of inclusions containing the Nigg or the CM972 strain of C. muridarum and found that the plasmid-minus CM972 strain was severely deficient in the accumulation of glycogen compared to the plasmid-containing Nigg strain (Fig. 3a, b
). Interestingly, the clinical isolates C. trachomatis 25667R and CT599, known to lack the cryptic plasmid, were also found to be deficient in their ability to accumulate glycogen (Fig. 3c, d
). Novobiocin treatment of Nigg-infected McCoy monolayers resulted in variable iodine staining of inclusions, ranging from non-staining inclusions to inclusions that appeared to contain only patchy depositions of iodine to inclusions that resembled those formed by untreated bacteria (data not shown). Analysis of the 48 plaque-purified isolates derived from the initial drug-treated bacteria screens revealed that only the plasmid-cured isolates stained negatively with iodine, indicating that glycogen accumulation may be regulated from the plasmid.
|
35-fold when the inoculum was applied in the absence of centrifugation. An even more striking difference was observed for strain CM972, whose ability to plaque was reduced an additional
150-fold when the strain was applied to the monolayers without centrifugation. In addition, plaques formed by strain CM972 were approximately one-half the diameter of those of the parental strain in parallel experiments, even when the bacteria had been centrifuged onto the monolayers (Fig. 4
|
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Novobiocin is an effective curing agent for chlamydiae
The ability to cure C. muridarum strain Nigg would suggest that, at appropriate concentrations of novobiocin, plasmid replication is sufficiently inhibited that plasmid-deficient isolates can be recovered; this is in contrast to previous reports that at low concentrations of the drug (20 µg ml1 in conjunction with 20 µg imipramine ml1), plasmid copy number increases (Pickett et al., 2005
). The apparently elevated concentrations of novobiocin required to suppress chlamydial replication were striking. However, each of the chlamydial strains for which genome sequencing has been completed [C. trachomatis strain D/UW-3Cx (Stephens et al., 1998
), C. trachomatis strain A/HAR-13 (Carlson et al., 2005
) and C. muridarum strain Nigg (Read et al., 2000
)] carries phospholipase D family orthologues (CT154-158; CTA_0163-0167 and TC0432-436; TC0440, respectively). In Escherichia coli, phospholipase D is encoded by cls. The cls gene has been recognized as identical to the wild-type form of the nov allele (Tropp et al., 1995
) and mutations in nov are associated with greatly enhanced novobiocin sensitivity as a consequence of changes in outer-membrane lipid structure which affect permeability. Thus it is possible that the amount of novobiocin that was required to trigger plasmid loss by chlamydiae may reflect a level of intrinsic resistance due to the relative impermeability of the chlamydial outer membrane. Nonetheless, the effective concentration of novobiocin required for plasmid curing was not cytotoxic, enabling the enrichment of plasmid-deficient bacteria. The use of novobiocin as a plasmid-curing agent is highly effective and allows the recovery of plasmid-deficient derivatives at high frequency. This technique should be generally applicable to other C. trachomatis strains or other plasmid-containing Chlamydia species.
Plasmid-deficient chlamydiae are less able to form plaques in cell culture
It would appear that a reduced ability to form plaques in cell culture is associated with plasmid loss from C. trachomatis. Previously identified plasmid-deficient clinical isolates (Peterson et al., 1990
; Stothard et al., 1998
) that are available for study also failed to plaque in our assay (data not shown). However, the absence of an isogenic, plasmid-containing parental control for these clinical isolates made the significance of these observations difficult to interpret. Our observations that plasmid-deficient isolates were only recovered after novobiocin treatment if the bacteria were passed via centrifugation at all steps are consistent with those of Matsumoto et al. (1998)
, who reported the recovery of plasmid-deficient derivatives of in vitro-cultured strains with little difficulty. It is noteworthy that centrifugation of the inoculum onto the cells was an integral component of all screening and passage steps in their protocols. The parental strain Nigg demonstrates a marked reduction in plaquing efficiency if applied to monolayers without centrifugation. The significance of this observation is not clear; it may reflect strain-specific or receptor-specific variations in attachment or uptake into cells as has been described for other chlamydial strains (Chen & Stephens, 1997
; Davis et al., 2002
; Carabeo & Hackstadt, 2001
). However, a more profound deficiency in the ability to plaque under these conditions is demonstrated by strain CM972; this suggests that plasmid-deficient derivatives may be selected against under some culture conditions, and particularly when the plaque assay protocols that are used for isolation and screening do not involve centrifugation of the monolayer. We also noted that plaques formed by CM972 were one-half the diameter of the plaques of the parent strain. This is likely a further reflection of the attachment/uptake defect manifested by this strain because plaque size may reflect the relative efficiency with which the bacteria undergo subsequent rounds of uptake and amplification in the host cells immediately adjacent to the focus of infection.
Plaque size is highly variable between experiments and is known to be influenced by many other factors including the overall quality of the cell monolayer, the culture medium and the length of time the plaque assays are maintained in culture. This may affect the rate at which plasmid-deficient isolates are recovered from a novobiocin-treated population, possibly leading to variable estimates of curing efficiency: low if overall plaque size is small; higher if overall plaque size is larger. It was not possible to estimate the rate of natural plasmid loss by C. muridarum strain Nigg because we failed to identify any naturally cured derivatives.
The role of the cryptic plasmid in chlamydiae
Loss of the plasmid is associated with two distinct and possibly unrelated phenotypes (glycogen accumulation, efficiency of plaque formation), raising the possibility that a regulator or co-factor for genes important for these phenotypes may be encoded on the plasmid. Nonetheless, the significance of these phenotypes to chlamydial infection is unclear. We have observed that a variety of environmental factors can suppress the accumulation of glycogen within inclusions, including ampicillin treatment and substrate limitation (unpublished). Furthermore, it should be noted that neither Chlamydophila psittaci nor Chlamydophila pneumoniae accumulate glycogen within their inclusions, although the majority of C. psittaci and some C. pneumoniae strains carry the plasmid (Lusher et al., 1989
; Thomas et al., 1997
; McClenaghan et al., 1988
) and the glycogen metabolic genes have been retained on the chromosome (Read et al., 2000
, 2003
; Kalman et al., 1999
). It would be highly desirable to reintroduce the cryptic plasmid into C. muridarum and demonstrate restoration of both intra-inclusion glycogen accumulation and plaquing efficiency. However, an effective gene transformation system has yet to be developed for the chlamydiae.
Although it has been noted that centrifugation of the chlamydial inoculum onto cell monolayers can increase the efficiency with which cells may become infected (Rota, 1977
; Lee, 1981
; Pearce et al., 1981
), it is difficult to envisage how this manipulation might mimic a relevant in vivo condition. Our isolation of a plasmid-deficient variant of the mouse-virulent C. muridarum Nigg will enable us to investigate whether loss of the cryptic plasmid affects the ability of the bacterium to establish infection. In addition, it is possible that the plaquing defect that we have observed may ultimately be used as the basis for a positive selection for transformants.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Belland, R. J., Zhong, G., Crane, D. D., Hogan, D., Sturdevant, D., Sharma, J., Beatty, W. L. & Caldwell, H. D. (2003). Genomic transcriptional profiling of the developmental cycle of Chlamydia trachomatis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100, 84788483.
Carabeo, R. A. & Hackstadt, T. (2001). Isolation and characterization of a mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell line that is resistant to Chlamydia trachomatis infection at a novel step in the attachment process. Infect Immun 69, 58995904.
Carlson, J. H., Porcella, S. F., McClarty, G. & Caldwell, H. D. (2005). Comparative genomic analysis of Chlamydia trachomatis oculotropic and genitotropic strains. Infect Immun 73, 64076418.
Chen, J. C. & Stephens, R. S. (1997). Chlamydia trachomatis glycosaminoglycan-dependent and independent attachment to eukaryotic cells. Microb Pathog 22, 2330.[CrossRef][Medline]
Comanducci, M., Cevenini, R., Moroni, A., Giuliani, M. M., Ricci, S., Scarlato, V. & Ratti, G. (1993). Expression of a plasmid gene of Chlamydia trachomatis encoding a novel 28 kDa antigen. J Gen Microbiol 139, 10831092.[Medline]
Davis, C. H., Raulston, J. E. & Wyrick, P. B. (2002). Protein disulfide isomerase, a component of the estrogen receptor complex, is associated with Chlamydia trachomatis serovar E attached to human endometrial epithelial cells. Infect Immun 70, 34133418.
Dean, D., Oudens, E., Bolan, G., Padian, N. & Schachter, J. (1995). Major outer membrane protein variants of Chlamydia trachomatis are associated with severe upper genital tract infections and histopathology in San Francisco. J Infect Dis 172, 10131022.[Medline]
Fahr, M. J., Sriprakash, K. S. & Hatch, T. P. (1992). Convergent and overlapping transcripts of the Chlamydia trachomatis 7.5-kb plasmid. Plasmid 28, 247257.[CrossRef][Medline]
Farencena, A., Comanducci, M., Donati, M., Ratti, G. & Cevenini, R. (1997). Characterization of a new isolate of Chlamydia trachomatis which lacks the common plasmid and has properties of biovar trachoma. Infect Immun 65, 29652969.[Abstract]
Gado, I., Toth, I. & Szvoboda, G. (1987). Curing of plasmid pE194 with novobiocin and coumermycin A1 in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Zentralbl Bakteriol Mikrobiol Hyg A 265, 136145.[Medline]
Hooper, D. C., Wolfson, J. S., McHugh, G. L., Swartz, M. D., Tung, C. & Swartz, M. N. (1984). Elimination of plasmid pMG110 from Escherichia coli by novobiocin and other inhibitors of DNA gyrase. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 25, 586590.
Hussy, P., Maass, G., Tummler, B., Grosse, F. & Schomburg, U. (1986). Effect of 4-quinolones and novobiocin on calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha primase complex, topoisomerases I and II, and growth of mammalian lymphoblasts. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 29, 10731078.
Kalman, S., Mitchell, W., Marathe, R. & 7 other authors (1999). Comparative genomes of Chlamydia pneumoniae and C. trachomatis. Nat Genet 21, 385389.[CrossRef][Medline]
Kelly, K. A., Robinson, E. A. & Rank, R. G. (1996). Initial route of antigen administration alters the T-cell cytokine profile produced in response to the mouse pneumonitis biovar of Chlamydia trachomatis following genital infection. Infect Immun 64, 49764983.[Abstract]
Lee, C. K. (1981). Interaction between a trachoma strain of Chlamydia trachomatis and mouse fibroblasts (McCoy cells) in the absence of centrifugation. Infect Immun 31, 584591.
Lusher, M., Storey, C. C. & Richmond, S. J. (1989). Plasmid diversity within the genus Chlamydia. J Gen Microbiol 135 (Pt 5), 11451151.
Luttinger, A. (1995). The twisted life of DNA in the cell: bacterial topoisomerases. Mol Microbiol 15, 601606.[CrossRef][Medline]
Matsumoto, A., Izutsu, H., Miyashita, N. & Ohuchi, M. (1998). Plaque formation by and plaque cloning of Chlamydia trachomatis biovar trachoma. J Clin Microbiol 36, 30133019.
McClenaghan, M., Honeycombe, J. R., Bevan, B. J. & Herring, A. J. (1988). Distribution of plasmid sequences in avian and mammalian strains of Chlamydia psittaci. J Gen Microbiol 134, 559565.[Medline]
Miyashita, N., Matsumoto, A. & Matsushima, T. (2000). In vitro susceptibility of 7.5-kb common plasmid-free Chlamydia trachomatis strains. Microbiol Immunol 44, 267269.[Medline]
Nigg, C. (1942). An unidentified virus which produces pneumonia and systemic infection in mice. Science 95, 4950.
O'Connell, C. M. C. & Maurelli, A. T. (1998). Introduction of Foreign DNA into Chlamydia and Stable Expression of Chloramphenicol Resistance, pp. 519522. San Francisco, CA: International Chlamydial Symposium.
Pearce, J. H., Allan, I. & Ainsworth, S. (1981). Interaction of chlamydiae with host cells and mucous surfaces. Ciba Found Symp 80, 234249.[Medline]
Pearce, B. J., Fahr, M. J., Hatch, T. P. & Sriprakash, K. S. (1991). A chlamydial plasmid is differentially transcribed during the life cycle of Chlamydia trachomatis. Plasmid 26, 116122.[CrossRef][Medline]
Peterson, E. M., Markoff, B. A., Schachter, J. & De La Maza, L. M. (1990). The 7.5-kb plasmid present in Chlamydia trachomatis is not essential for the growth of this microorganism. Plasmid 23, 144148.[CrossRef][Medline]
Pickett, M. A., Everson, J. S., Pead, P. J. & Clarke, I. N. (2005). The plasmids of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila pneumoniae (N16): accurate determination of copy number and the paradoxical effect of plasmid-curing agents. Microbiology 151, 893903.
Read, T. D., Brunham, R. C., Shen, C. & 22 other authors (2000). Genome sequences of Chlamydia trachomatis MoPn and Chlamydia pneumoniae AR39. Nucleic Acids Res 28, 13971406.
Read, T. D., Myers, G. S., Brunham, R. C. & 18 other authors (2003). Genome sequence of Chlamydiophila caviae (Chlamydia psittaci GPIC): examining the role of niche-specific genes in the evolution of the Chlamydiaceae. Nucleic Acids Res 31, 21342147.
Rota, T. R. (1977). Chlamydia trachomatis in cell culture. II. Susceptibility of seven established mammalian cell types in vitro. Adaptation of trachoma organisms to McCoy and BHK-21 cells. In Vitro 13, 280292.[Medline]
Schachter, J. & Dawson, C. R. (1978). Laboratory diagnosis. In Human Chlamydial Infections, pp. 181220. Littleton, MA: PSG Publishing Co.
Stephens, R. S., Kalman, S. & Lammel, C. (1998). Genome sequence of an obligate intracellular pathogen of humans: Chlamydia trachomatis. Science 282, 754759.
Stothard, D. R., Williams, J. A., Van Der Pol, B. & Jones, R. B. (1998). Identification of a Chlamydia trachomatis serovar E urogenital isolate which lacks the cryptic plasmid. Infect Immun 66, 60106013.
Tam, J. E., Davis, C. H., Thresher, R. J. & Wyrick, P. B. (1992). Location of the origin of replication for the 7.5-kb Chlamydia trachomatis plasmid. Plasmid 27, 231236.[CrossRef][Medline]
Thomas, N. S., Lusher, M., Storey, C. C. & Clarke, I. N. (1997). Plasmid diversity in Chlamydia. Microbiology 143, 18471854.[Abstract]
Tropp, B. E., Ragolia, L., Xia, W., Dowhan, W., Milkman, R., Rudd, K. E., Ivanisevic, R. & Savic, D. J. (1995). Identity of the Escherichia coli cls and nov genes. J Bacteriol 177, 51555157.
Wolfson, J. S., Hooper, D. C., Swartz, M. N., Swartz, M. D. & McHugh, G. L. (1983). Novobiocin-induced elimination of F'lac and mini-F plasmids from Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol 156, 11651170.
Received 3 November 2005;
revised 28 February 2006;
accepted 8 March 2006.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
Z. Li, D. Chen, Y. Zhong, S. Wang, and G. Zhong The Chlamydial Plasmid-Encoded Protein pgp3 Is Secreted into the Cytosol of Chlamydia-Infected Cells Infect. Immun., August 1, 2008; 76(8): 3415 - 3428. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. H. Carlson, W. M. Whitmire, D. D. Crane, L. Wicke, K. Virtaneva, D. E. Sturdevant, J. J. Kupko III, S. F. Porcella, N. Martinez-Orengo, R. A. Heinzen, et al. The Chlamydia trachomatis Plasmid Is a Transcriptional Regulator of Chromosomal Genes and a Virulence Factor Infect. Immun., June 1, 2008; 76(6): 2273 - 2283. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. DeMars and J. Weinfurter Interstrain Gene Transfer in Chlamydia trachomatis In Vitro: Mechanism and Significance J. Bacteriol., March 1, 2008; 190(5): 1605 - 1614. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. M. O'Connell, R. R. Ingalls, C. W. Andrews Jr., A. M. Scurlock, and T. Darville Plasmid-Deficient Chlamydia muridarum Fail to Induce Immune Pathology and Protect against Oviduct Disease J. Immunol., September 15, 2007; 179(6): 4027 - 4034. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL |
| J MED MICROBIOL | ALL SGM JOURNALS | |