STI chlamydia can swap genes with trachoma strain

Genomic sequencing of Chlamydia trachomatis has for the first time revealed a link between sexually transmitted diseases and a leading global cause of blindness.

In what one of the leading scientists called “the biggest surprise of my scientific career”, the findings of the global research, led by the Menzies School of Health Research at Charles Darwin University in Northern Territory, Australia, and The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, England, have "completely changed" the understanding of the evolution of C. Trachomatis.

The researchers say the findings suggest the risk of re-emergence of outbreaks of trachoma are much greater than previously thought.

Writing in Nature Communications, researchers have described how genes can move from chlamydia strains that infect the eye to sexually transmitted strains of chlamydia.

This means there is potential for new trachoma strains of chlamydia to emerge, they warn.

Dr Patiyan Andersson, senior research officer at the Menzies School of Health Research and lead author of the paper, said: “This work came about from the analysis of frozen isolates that had been collected in the 1980s and 1990s. We were able to resuscitate chlamydia bacteria that had been frozen for 30 years, and study their genomes to find out how they had evolved.”

The team, which also involved researchers from the Chlamydia Biobank at the University of Southampton, England, says there is now strong evidence to suggest that the acquisition of just one or two gene variants can change an STI causing strain into a Trachoma associated strain.

Associate Professor Phil Giffard, from Menzies, said: “The sequences of these strains were the biggest surprise of my scientific career to date – they were completely different to how they ‘should’ have been.”

Although there are many unanswered questions about C. trachomatis, this study has helped to reveal some of its secrets.

Professor Nick Thomson, group leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: “Trachoma is a neglected tropical disease and one where the clear benefits of a combined skill set, using both classical and cutting edge techniques, have provided novel insights that are of immediate importance for tackling this disease.”

Andersson et al. Chlamydia trachomatis from Aboriginal people with trachoma are from novel lineages. Nature Communications 25 February 2016; doi: 10.1038/NCOMMS10688

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