Investigating the Role of Chlamydia Putative Cytotoxins During Female Genital Tract Infection

Abstract

Chlamydia is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections across the globe. Acquisition of the bacteria often results in asymptomatic chronic infections that can lead to the development of devastating conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disorder and ectopic pregnancy. In spite of the severity and prevalence of Chlamydia, how the bacteria causes this disease continues to remain unclear. Previous studies have implicated that a set of open reading frames (ORFs) within the bacteria’s genome may contribute to the bacteria’s pathogenesis. However, how exactly they contribute has yet to be explored in vivo. In this study, we investigate the role that these ORFs play during Chlamydia infection of the upper genital tract. To do so, we infected mice with a mutant strain of Chlamydia that lacked these ORFs, and assessed the ability of the bacteria to both infect the host tissue and induce pathology. We found that infection with the mutant strain resulted in reduced oviduct pathology, and reduced persistence of the bacteria in the lower genital tract. These results strongly suggest that these open reading frames act as virulence factors during Chlamydia infection that drive oviduct pathology by taking on two different tissue specific mechanisms of action.