Sunday, November 3, 2013

Uncultivable no more


By Maria G Gallegos

Much is known of human pathogenic bacteria however less about Chlamydia intracellular parasites species Rhabdochlamydia porcellionis.  Even though, it has not been reported to cause human death emerging evidence suggest it being a cause for bovine abortion and respiratory disease. It is known to cause serious liver tissue damage due to its two stage developmental cycle compromising formation of an intracellular reticulate body (RBs) and non-diving infectious elementary body (EBs). Much remains unknown of this and other Chlamydiae species due to a lack of cell culture based methodology needed to isolate and grow them.  The goal of this research was to develop a viable cell line where to grow and study the reproductive cycle.  Findings cocultivation with amoeba unsuccessful but viable with insect cell lines Sf9 from moth ovarian tissue. Much remains to be discovered and now can be further investigated with the successful maintenance of this parasite.  
 
Figure 1 from Sixt et.al showing Sf9 cells infected with R. porcellionis. Bacterial replication monitoring of intracellular parasite with the use of confocal fluorescence for 31 days shows an increase in replication as time progresses.

Original article: Sixt B, Kostanjšek R, Mustedanagic A, Toenshoff E, Horn M. (2013). Developmental cycle and host interaction of Rhabdochlamydia porcellionis, an intracellular parasite of terrestrial isopods. Environmental Microbiology 15: 2980-2993.

No comments:

Post a Comment