Inter-species lateral gene transfer focused on the Chlamydia plasticity zone identifies loci associated with immediate cytotoxicity and inclusion stability.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia muridarum actively grows in murine mucosae and is a representative model of human chlamydial genital tract disease. In contrast, C. trachomatis infections in mice are limited and rarely cause disease. The factors that contribute to these differences in host adaptation and specificity remain elusive. Overall genomic similarity leads to challenges in the understanding of these significant differences in tropism. A region of major genetic divergence termed the plasticity zone (PZ) has been hypothesized to contribute to the host specificity. To evaluate this hypothesis, lateral gene transfer was used to generate multiple hetero-genomic strains that are predominately C. trachomatis but have replaced regions of the PZ with those from C. muridarum. In vitro analysis of these chimeras re

SUBMITTER: Dimond ZE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9119408 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature