Metabolic effectors secreted by bacterial pathogens: essential facilitators of plastid endosymbiosis?

Under the endosymbiont hypothesis, over a billion years ago a heterotrophic eukaryote entered into a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium (the cyanobiont). This partnership culminated in the plastid that has spread to forms as diverse as plants and diatoms. However, why primary plastid acquisition has not been repeated multiple times remains unclear. Here, we report a possible answer to this question by showing that primary plastid endosymbiosis was likely to have been primed by the secretion in the host cytosol of effector proteins from intracellular Chlamydiales pathogens. We provide evidence suggesting that the cyanobiont might have rescued its afflicted host by feeding photosynthetic carbon into a chlamydia-controlled assimilation pathway.

Massive expansion of Ubiquitination-related gene families within the Chlamydiae.

Gene loss, gain, and transfer play an important role in shaping the genomes of all organisms; however, the interplay of these processes in isolated populations, such as in obligate intracellular bacteria, is less understood. Despite a general trend towards genome reduction in these microbes, our phylogenomic analysis of the phylum Chlamydiae revealed that within the family Parachlamydiaceae, gene family expansions have had pronounced effects on gene content. We discovered that the largest gene families within the phylum are the result of rapid gene birth-and-death evolution. These large gene families are comprised of members harboring eukaryotic-like ubiquitination-related domains, such as F-box and BTB-box domains, marking the largest reservoir of these proteins found among bacteria. A heterologous type III secretion system assay suggests that these proteins function as effectors manipulating the host cell. The large disparity in copy number of members in these families between closely related organisms suggests that nonadaptive processes might contribute to the evolution of these gene families. Gene birth-and-death evolution in concert with genomic drift might represent a previously undescribed mechanism by which isolated bacterial populations diversify.

The DUF582 Proteins of Chlamydia trachomatis Bind to Components of the ESCRT Machinery, Which Is Dispensable for Bacterial Growth In vitro.

Chlamydiae are Gram negative bacteria that develop exclusively inside eukaryotic host cells, within a membrane-bounded compartment. Members of the family Chlamydiaceae, such as Chlamydia trachomatis, are pathogenic species infecting vertebrates. They have a very reduced genome and exploit the capacities of their host for their own development, mainly through the secretion of proteins tailored to interfere with eukaryotic processes, called effector proteins. All Chlamydiaceae possess genes coding for four to five effectors that share a domain of unknown function (DUF582). Here we show that four of these effectors, which represent the conserved set in all Chlamydiaceae, accumulate in the infectious form of C. trachomatis, and are therefore likely involved in an early step of the developmental cycle. The fifth member of the family, CT621, is specific to C. trachomatis, and is secreted during the growth phase. Using a two-hybrid screen in yeast we identified an interaction between the host protein Hrs and the DUF582, which we confirmed by co-immunoprecipitations in co-transfected mammalian cells. Furthermore, we provide biochemical evidence that a second domain of one of the DUF582 proteins, CT619, binds the host protein Tsg101. Hrs and Tsg101 are both implicated in a well conserved machinery of the eukaryotic cell called the ESCRT machinery, which is involved in several cellular processes requiring membrane constriction. Using RNA interference targeting proteins implicated at different stages of ESCRT-driven processes, or inhibition by expression of a dominant negative mutant of VPS4, we demonstrated that this machinery was dispensable for bacterial entry, multiplication and differentiation into infectious progeny, and for uptake of glycogen into the parasitophorous vacuole. In light of these observations we discuss how the DUF582 proteins might target the ESCRT machinery during infection.

Sequestration of host metabolism by an intracellular pathogen.

For intracellular pathogens, residence in a vacuole provides a shelter against cytosolic host defense to the cost of limited access to nutrients. The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis grows in a glycogen-rich vacuole. How this large polymer accumulates there is unknown. We reveal that host glycogen stores shift to the vacuole through two pathways: bulk uptake from the cytoplasmic pool, and de novo synthesis. We provide evidence that bacterial glycogen metabolism enzymes are secreted into the vacuole lumen through type 3 secretion. Our data bring strong support to the following scenario: bacteria co-opt the host transporter SLC35D2 to import UDP-glucose into the vacuole, where it serves as substrate for de novo glycogen synthesis, through a remarkable adaptation of the bacterial glycogen synthase. Based on these findings we propose that parasitophorous vacuoles not only offer protection but also provide a microorganism-controlled metabolically active compartment essential for redirecting host resources to the pathogens.