Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 13
Chlamydiae
“Simplicity, carried to the extreme, becomes elegance.”
Jon Franklin
Bacteria
Proteobacteria
Alpha Proteobacteria (Chapter 5)
Beta Proteobacteria (Chapter 6)
Gamma Proteobacteria (Chapter 7)
Epsilon Proteobacteria (Chapter 8)
Spirochaetes (Chapter 9)
Bacteroidetes (Chapter 10)
Fusobacteria (Chapter 10)
Firmicutes
Bacilli (Chapter 12)
Clostridia (Chapter 12)
Mollicutes (Chapter 11)
Chlamydiae (Chapter 13)
Chlamydiae
Chlamydiales
Chlamydiaceae
*Chlamydophila
*Chlamydia
Actinobacteria (Chapter 14)
All members of Class Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens (like
the Rickettsia, members of Alpha Proteobacteria covered in Chapter 5). All
Chlamydiaceae are Gram-negative, and they all express the same lipopoly-
saccharide epitope, that has only been observed in Class Chlamydiaceae.
Members of Class Chlamydiaceae are extremely small, less than 1 micron in
size. These organisms grow exclusively within eukaryotic cells. Two genera
of Chlamydiaceae contain human pathogens: Chlamydia and Chlamydophila.
Genus Chlamydia and Genus Chlamydophila are closely related and, prior to
