Host cell amplification of nutritional stress contributes to persistence in Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydial starvation of distinct nutrients produce a superficially similar persistent state, implying convergence on a common intracellular environment. We employed host-pathogen dual RNA-sequencing under both iron- and tryptophan-starved conditions to systematically characterize the persistent chlamydial transcriptome and to define common contributions of the host cell transcriptional stress response in shaping the intracellular environment. The transcriptome of the infected host cells was highly specific to each nutritional stress, despite comparable effects on chlamydial growth and development in each condition. In contrast, the chlamydial transcriptomes between nutritional conditions were highly similar, suggesting some overlap in host cell responses to iron limitation and tryptophan starvation that contribute to a common persistent phenotype. We demonstrate that a commonality in the host cell responses is the suppression of guanosine triphosphate (GTP) biosynthesis, a nucleotide for which Chlamydia are auxotrophic. Host cell reduction in GTP levels amplifies the nutritional stress to intracellular chlamydiae in infection-relevant models of persistence, illustrating the determinative role the infected host cell plays in bacterial stress responses.