Computational Modeling of the Chlamydial Developmental Cycle Reveals a Potential Role for Asymmetric Division

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that progresses through an essential multicell form developmental cycle. Infection of the host is initiated by the elementary body (EB). Once in the host, the EB cell differentiates into the noninfectious, but replication-competent, reticulate body, or RB. After multiple rounds of replication, RBs undergo secondary differentiation, eventually producing newly infectious EBs. Here, we generated paired cell-type promoter reporter constructs and determined the kinetics of the activities of the euo, hctA, and hctB promoters. The paired constructs revealed that the developmental cycle produces at least three phenotypically distinct cell types, the RB (euoprom⁺), intermediate body (IB; hctAprom⁺), and EB (hctBprom⁺). The kinetic data from the three dual-promoter constructs were used to generate two computational agent-based models to reproduce the chlamydial developmental cycle. Both models simulated EB germination, RB amplification, IB formation, and EB production but differed in the mechanism that generated the IB. The direct conversion and the asymmetric production models predicted different behaviors for the RB population, which were experimentally testable. In agreement with the asymmetric production model, RBs acted as stem cells after the initial amplification stage, producing one IB and self-renewing after every division. We also demonstrated that IBs are a transient cell population, maturing directly into EBs after formation without the need for cell division. The culmination of these results suggests that the developmental cycle can be described by a four-stage model, EB germination, RB amplification/maturation, IB production, and EB formation. IMPORTANCE Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for both ocular and sexually transmitted infections. All Chlamydiae are reliant on a complex developmental cycle, consisting of both infectious and noninfectious cell forms. The EB cell form initiates infection, whereas the RB cell replicates. The infectious cycle requires both cell types, as RB replication increases the cell population while EB formation disseminates the infection to new hosts. The mechanisms of RB-to-EB development are largely unknown. Here, we developed unique dual promoter reporters and used live-cell imaging and confocal microscopy to visualize the cycle at the single-cell and kinetic levels. These data were used to develop and test two agent-based models, simulating either direct conversion of RBs to EBs or production of EBs via asymmetric RB division. Our results suggest that RBs mature into a stem cell-like population producing intermediate cell forms through asymmetric division, followed by maturation of the intermediate cell type into the infectious EB. Ultimately, a more complete mechanistic understanding of the developmental cycle will lead to novel therapeutics targeting cell type development to eliminate chlamydial dissemination.