Ann Caroline Hawk

Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) is the causative agent of most sexually transmitted infections in the United States and creates detrimental impacts on female reproductive fitness. The current lack of an effective vaccine and the lack of understanding of how Ctr establishes its intracellular niche and causes infection represents a major public health concern. With over a quarter of the genome comprised of hypothetical proteins, there is a lack of understanding how this pathogen utilizes its repertoire of proteins to establish the infection, which could represent potential therapeutic targets.  However, progress in the field has been hindered by the bacterium’s obligate intracellular lifestyle and biphasic developmental cycle, which complicate genetic manipulation. While reverse genetic approaches have provided insights, they are inherently biased, highlighting the need for efficient forward genetics strategies. My research focuses on improving and implementing a transposon mutagenesis system using a conditionally replicating plasmid and a tightly regulated inducible transposase. This system enables the generation of a mutant library to identify genes critical for various stages of infection. Ultimately, this work aims to expand the genetic tools available for C. trachomatis and advance our understanding of its pathogenesis.