Journal: mBio
Article Title: Evidence for a post-invasion role of the Chlamydia trachomatis type III secreted effector TmeA in redirection of host plasma membrane-derived material
doi: 10.1128/mbio.01993-25
Figure Lengend Snippet: Evidence for TmeA function during late-cycle development. HeLa cells were infected at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 1 with WT serovar L2, and whole-culture RNA or protein was harvested at 12, 16, or 24 h post-infection. ( A ) TmeA-specific mRNA was detected via qRT-PCR and normalized to rpoD levels in triplicate replicates. MOMP-specific mRNA was similarly quantitated as a quality control. ND = none detected. ( B ) TmeA was visualized by immunoblot, where MOMP-specific signals were examined as positive controls. ( C ) HeLa cells were equally infected at an MOI of 0.5 with WT, Δ tmeA , cis- tmeA , or Δ tarp Chlamydia and cultured for 24 h. Cultures were methanol fixed and stained using Hsp60-specific and Alexa-conjugated primary and secondary antibodies, respectively. Inclusion images were acquired, and inclusion areas (µm 2 ) were quantitated using automated CX5 software. Violin plots depict data plots ( n = 1,000) from representative replicates. Mean values (red line) and SD (dotted lines) are shown, and one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons was used to assess statistical significance (ns = not significant; ****, P < 0.0001). ( D ) Progeny EBs from triplicate HeLa cultures equally infected with WT, Δ tmeA , cis- tmeA , or Δ tarp Chlamydia were enumerated after 24 h cultivation of passaged material. Progeny count data are represented as means of primary culture replicates (closed circles) with corresponding SDs. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons (ns = not significant; ***, P < 0.001).
Article Snippet: Detection via fluorescence microscopy was accomplished using direct fluorescence of paraformaldehyde-fixed HeLa cultures probed with Alexa488-Transferrin (Invitrogen) or 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI; Invitrogen) or for cells expressing GFP-TmeA, NBD-deficient GFP-TmeA, or mCherry-TmeA ( ).
Techniques: Infection, Quantitative RT-PCR, Control, Western Blot, Cell Culture, Staining, Software