Chlamydial Lytic Exit from Host Cells Is Plasmid Regulated

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that is a globally important human pathogen. The chlamydial plasmid is an attenuating virulence factor, but the molecular basis for attenuation is not understood. Chlamydiae replicate within a membrane-bound vacuole termed an inclusion, where they undergo a biphasic developmental growth cycle and differentiate from noninfectious into infectious organisms. Late in the developmental cycle, the fragile chlamydia-laden inclusion retains its integrity by surrounding itself with scaffolds of host cytoskeletal proteins. The ability of chlamydiae to developmentally free themselves from this cytoskeleton network is a fundamental virulence trait of the pathogen. Here, we show that plasmidless chlamydiae are incapable of disrupting their cytoskeletal entrapment and remain intracellular as stable mature inclusions that support high numbers of infectious organisms. By using deletion mutants of the eight plasmid-carried genes (Δpgp1 to Δpgp8), we show that Pgp4, a transcriptional regulator of multiple chromosomal genes, is required for exit. Exit of chlamydiae is dependent on protein synthesis and is inhibited by the compound C1, an inhibitor of the type III secretion system (T3S). Exit of plasmid-free and Δpgp4 organisms, which failed to lyse infected cells, was rescued by latrunculin B, an inhibitor of actin polymerization. Our findings describe a genetic mechanism of chlamydial exit from host cells that is dependent on an unknown pgp4-regulated chromosomal T3S effector gene.