Reorganization of the host cytoskeleton by the intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis.
Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens that cause a wide range of human diseases. Chlamydia resides in a membrane bound vacuole ("inclusion") that expands to accommodate replicating bacteria. We recently reported that Chlamydia remodels and recruit two major cytoskeletal components of the host cell- F-actin and Intermediate filaments-to form a dynamic scaffold that provides structural stability to the inclusion. As the inclusion expands, a secreted chlamydial protease progressively modifies the intermediate filaments scaffold, presumably to increase the inclusion's flexibility and accommodate the increased bacterial load. This represents a unique mechanism employed by an intracellular pathogen to support its intracellular niche and may be linked to immune evasion by this pathogen. Here, we discuss the potential consequences of Chlamydia-mediated alteration of host cytoskeletal dynamics on the pathogenesis of chlamydial infections.
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- Developmental Biology
- 3102 Bioinformatics and computational biology
- 0603 Evolutionary Biology
- 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Developmental Biology
- 3102 Bioinformatics and computational biology
- 0603 Evolutionary Biology
- 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology