Chlamydia trachomatis has a significant impact on human health worldwide. Chlamydial STD is the most common reportable disease while Trachoma accounts for the leading cause of infectious blindness. Studies on Chlamydia are hampered by its demands as an obligate intracellular bacteria, along with the lack of a genetically tractable system. Many important questions concerning the pathogenesis are thus left unanswered. One being the manner in which nutrient acquisition occurs. Other vacuolar pathogens have been documented to obtain nutrients via host pathways, having open channels within the vacuolar membrane, or relying on an active transport system. Previous research has shown that the chlamdyial vacuole, termed the inclusion, does not interact with host pathways to garner nutrients nor does it have open channels. This leads to the hypothesis that Chlamydia possess a nutrient transport system within the inclusion membrane that links the bacteria within the vacuole to the host cytoplasm. This will be explored via the usage of a novel protocol to isolate inclusions and proteomics. The success of a pathogen to propagate and subsequently cause infection is inextricably linked to its ability to acquire nutrients. This proposal will define the basis through which Chlamydia is able to accomplish this, and thus give much insight into the pathogenesis of a bacteria that is pervasive within human society.
