Christine Suetterlin, Ph.D.
also spelled Sutterlin or Sütterlin

A main interest of the Suetterlin lab is the biology of Chlamydia infection. The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease, with more than 1.8 million new cases reported annually in the U.S. (CDC, 2021). However, Chlamydia is not only a wide-spread and successful human pathogen, but it is also an exciting bacterium with interesting biology. Its unique biphasic developmental cycle takes places within a membrane bound compartment, called the inclusion and involves conversion between an infectious and a non-infectious form.

I am using my training in cell biology to understand 1) how Chlamydia, from within the inclusion, manipulates host cell organelles, such as ER, Golgi and centrosome, 2) how the host cell alters the infection and 3) how the unique chlamydial developmental cycle is regulated.

We use tissue-culture infection models and cell biological, biochemical and microscopy-based approaches to address these exciting aspects of Chlamydia biology. This work is done in close collaboration with Dr. Ming Tan (UCI’s School of Medicine) and is supported by grants from NIH.

A second area of research interest is the organization and function of the centrosome, the major microtubule organizing center of the cell. Here, we are pursuing three exciting projects: 1) to understand if the physical proximity between the Golgi and the centrosome in mammalian cells, is important for the organization and function of these organelles, 2) to examine the mechanism of centrosome assembly and 3) to determine the role of the daughter centriole.

Recent Publications

  • Loukil A, Tormanen K, Sütterlin C. (2017): The daughter centriole controls ciliogenesis by regulating Neurl-4 localization at the centrosome. J Cell Biol. 216:1287-1300, PMC5412565, *Selected for a special collection of JCB papers on cilia
  • Herrington, KA, Trinh, AL, Dang, C, O’Shaughnessy, E, Hahn, KM, Gratton, E, Digman, MA and Sütterlin, C: (2017): “Spatial analysis of Cdc42 activity reveals a role for plasma membrane-associated Cdc42 in centrosome regulation”, Mol Biol. Cell 28:2135-2145, PMC5509425
  • Lee JK, Enciso GA, Boassa D, Chander CN, Lou TH, Pairawan SS, Guo MC, Wan FYM, Ellisman MH,* Sütterlin, C, Tan M. (2018): “Replication-dependent size reduction precedes differentiation in Chlamydia“”. Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 3;9(1):45. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02432-0. PMC5752669 – *indicates corresponding author
  • Tormanen K, Ton C, Waring BM, Wang K, Sütterlin C (2019): “Function of Golgi-centrosome proximity in RPE-1 cells”. PLoS One 15: e0215215. PMC6464164, DOI: 1371/journal.pone.0215215
  • Brothwell, JA, Sütterlin, C., Rudel, T. and Tan, M. (2020): “The chlamydial protease CPAF”, in “Chlamydia Biology: From Genome to Disease”, edited by Tan, M, Hegemann, H. and Sütterlin, C, published by Caister Academic Press
  • Sütterlin and I Derre (2020): “Interactions of the chlamydial inclusion with the host cell” in “Chlamydia Biology: From Genome to Disease”, edited by Tan, M, Hegemann, H. and Sütterlin, C published by Caister Academic Press
  • Muñoz, KJ., Wang, K, Sheehan L., Tan M., and Sütterlin, C (2021): “The small molecule H89 inhibits Chlamydiainclusion growth and production of infectious progeny”, Infection and Immunity 89(7):e0072920, PMCID: PMC8373235, DOI: 1128/IAI.00729-20
  • Wang, K, Muñoz, K., Tan, M and Sütterlin C (2021): “Chlamydia and HPV induce centrosome amplification in the host cell through additive mechanisms”, Cellular Microbiology
    2021 Dec;23(12):e13397, PMCID: PMC8665076,DOI: 10.1111/cmi.13397
  • Muñoz, KJ., Tan M., and Sütterlin, C (2022): “Differential Effects of Small Molecule Inhibitors on the Intracellular Chlamydia Infection”, MBio Jun 15;e0107622, PMCID: PMC9426518, DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01076-22
  • Wang, K., Sheehan, L., Ramirez, C., Asha, D., Rizvi, S., Ekka, R., Sütterlin, C. and Tan, M (2022): “A reverse genetic approach for studying sRNAs in Chlamydia trachomatis”. MBio Jun 21;e0086422,

    PMCID: PMC9426522, DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00864-22

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