Competitive inhibition of amino acid uptake suppresses chlamydial growth: involvement of the chlamydial amino acid transporter BrnQ.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydiaceae are obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens that strictly depend on host metabolites, such as nucleotides, lipids, and amino acids. Depletion of amino acids in cell culture media results in abnormal chlamydial development in vitro. Surprisingly, enrichment of certain amino acids also retards chlamydial growth. Our experiments revealed that the antichlamydial effects are largely independent of changes in the host cell transcriptome or proteome and in the major signal transduction pathway modulated by amino acids, the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway. Furthermore, the chlamydial growth inhibition induced by leucine, isoleucine, methionine, or phenylalanine was completely reversed by concomitant addition of valine. In contrast, the growth inhibition induced by ser

SUBMITTER: Braun PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2258683 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature