Architecture and host interface of environmental chlamydiae revealed by electron cryotomography
Abstract
Chlamydiae comprise important pathogenic and symbiotic bacteria that alternate between morphologically and physiologically different life stages during their developmental cycle. Using electron cryotomography, we characterize the ultrastructure of the developmental stages of three environmental chlamydiae: Parachlamydia acanthamoebae, Protochlamydia amoebophila and Simkania negevensis. We show that chemical fixation and dehydration alter the cell shape of Parachlamydia and that the crescent body is not a developmental stage, but an artefact of conventional electron microscopy. We further reveal type III secretion systems of environmental chlamydiae at macromolecular resolution and find support for a chlamydial needle-tip protein. Imaging bacteria inside their host cells by cryotomography for the first time, we observe marked differences in inclusion morphology and development as well as host organelle recruitment between the three chlamydial organisms, with Simkania inclusions being tightly enveloped by the host endoplasmic reticulum. The study demonstrates the power of electron cryotomography to reveal structural details of bacteria–host interactions that are not accessible using traditional methods.
Additional Information
© 2013 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Received 8 August, 2013; accepted 26 September, 2013. Article first published online: 8 Nov 2013. This work was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Y277-B03 to MH), the European Research Council (ERC StG 'EvoChlamy' to MH), the Caltech Center for Environmental Microbiology Interactions (to GJJ, MP), and a gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to Caltech.Attached Files
Accepted Version - nihms787614.pdf
Supplemental Material - emi12299-sup-0001-fs1-2.pdf
Supplemental Material - emi12299-sup-0002-m1.mov
Supplemental Material - emi12299-sup-0003-m2.mov
Supplemental Material - emi12299-sup-0004-m3.mov
Supplemental Material - emi12299-sup-0005-m4.mov
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC4949044
- Eprint ID
- 44375
- DOI
- 10.1111/1462-2920.12299
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140318-101020463
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- Y277-B03
- European Research Council (ERC StG EvoChlamy)
- Caltech Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions (CEMI)
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Created
-
2014-03-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Caltech Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions (CEMI)