Chlamydia infects your cells with a Trojan Horse

Chlamydia trachomatis is a scarily accomplished human pathogen . It ’s the most ofttimes cover bacterial STD in the United States , the issue one effort of acquire cecity in train country , and the leading cause of infertility in the westerly cosmos . And yet , many of the molecular mechanisms by which chlamydia spread continue poorly understood .

Now , a team of microbiologists head by UCSF ’s Joanne Engel has discovered that one of the world ’s most pernicious sexually transmitted diseases infiltrates its boniface ’s cells by apply one of story ’s most noted military stratagems .

In the latest government issue of PLoS Pathogens , Engel and her squad reveal that chlamydia clear access to its boniface ’s cells by coating itself in a protein called Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ( FGF2 ) — a protein produced naturally by the cells of the bacteria ’s host .

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Chlamydia ’s FGF2 - disguise allows it to attach the outside of one of its host ’s cells . The cell , fooled by chlamydia ’s seemingly innocent camouflage , provides the bacteria accession to its inside . The jail cell is after undone from the interior out , helping bring forth more and more chlamydia bacteria in the process .

But before it dies , the chlamydia that have occupy the cell lodge it to increase its production of FGF2 , such that when the mobile phone last does perish and its cell rampart splits , the surplus FGF2 is released . This supply other chlamydia the means to mask themselves and recur the infiltration process , resulting in a positive feedback closed circuit between chlamydia and FGF2 that the researchers believe enhances the efficiency and spreading of subsequent rounds of infection .

I always appreciate bailiwick like this one for their power to put things into perspective . I mean , chlamydia infections are curable , and yet there ’s so much about this bacteria that we simply do n’t understand . And if you think about it , pretty much all scientific advancement hinges on that very dynamic — that sense of have sex and not cognise at the same time . It ’s exciting to think about . Even — incredibly enough — when it means think about STDs .

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