Endocytic mechanisms utilized by chlamydiae and their influence on induction of productive infection

Abstract

The microfilament-disrupting drug cytochalasin D and, initially, inoculation at 20°C were used to differentiate between phagocytosis (sensitive to both treatments) and pinocytosis (resistant to both treatments) to assess whether chlamydial uptake into McCoy cells occurred by one or both mechanisms and whether each could contribute to productive infection. Both treatments suppressed the infectivity of Chlamydia trachomatis L2/434/Bu and C. psittaci GPIC (the guinea pig inclusion conjunctivitis strain) following static inoculation by only 50%, indicating that there was simultaneous operation of both phagocytosis and pinocytosis during uptake that led to productive infection. Measurement of the entry of organisms by two separate assays established that both strains predominantly used a cytochalasin D-resistant (pinocytic) mechanism, implying that phagocytic uptake was coupled to a higher frequency of productive infection. Integration of the data on infectivity and entry allowed the potential for an organism to infect a host cell to be quantified. This synthesis revealed that for both strains the infectivity potential following phagocytic entry was ca. 10-fold greater than that following pinocytic entry. However, both entry mechanisms were exploited more efficiently by strain L2/434/Bu than by strain GPIC (unless the latter was inoculated with centrifugation), indicating that intrinsic strain properties are more important for infectivity potential than the endocytic mechanism utilized.