University of California, Berkeley
Grant: $34,482 - National Institutes of Health - May. 4, 2009
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Award Description: Chlamydia trachomatis has a significant impact on human health worldwide. Chlamydial STD is the most common reportable disease while Trachoma accounts for the leading cause of infectious blindness. Studies on Chlamydia are hampered by its demands as an obligate intracellular bacteria, along with the lack of a genetically tractable system. Many important questions concerning the pathogenesis are thus left unanswered. One being the manner in which nutrient acquisition occurs. Other vacuolar pathogens have been documented to obtain nutrients via host pathways, having open channels within the vacuolar membrane, or relying on an active transport system. Previous research has shown that the chlamdyial vacuole, termed the inclusion, does not interact with host pathways to garner nutrients nor does it have open channels. This leads to the hypothesis that Chlamydia possess a nutrient transport system within the inclusion membrane that links the bacteria within the vacuole to the host cytoplasm. This will be explored via the usage of a novel protocol to isolate inclusions and proteomics. The success of a pathogen to propagate and subsequently cause infection is inextricably linked to its ability to acquire nutrients. This proposal will define the basis through which Chlamydia is able to accomplish this, and thus give much insight into the pathogenesis of a bacteria that is pervasive within human society.
Project Description: Chlamydia trachomatis is a gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria that has a significant public health toll . The success of a pathogen to propagate and subsequently cause infection is inextricably linked to its ability to acquire nutrients. Previous work has demonstrated that the chlamydial vacuole is unable to obtain nutrients by either intersecting host pathways or via open channels, the known routes that other vacuolar intracellular bacteria acquire nutrients, suggesting a novel transport mechanism. Studies pertaining to the chlamydial vacuole have been limited in the questions that can be addressed due to the currently available tools in the field. This study will utilize a novel protocol that was developed to isolate chlamydial vacuoles from host cells. This new technique bypasses many issues that have hampered vacuolar studies thus far because it enables direct manipulation and characterization. This study will elucidate a key question in chlamydial pathogenesis, along with demonstrating a bacterial vacuole usage of a transport system.
Jobs Summary: To support 1 Graduate Student Researcher (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
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