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Live-Cell Forward Genetic Approach to Identify and Isolate Developmental Mutants in Chlamydia trachomatis
Published on: June 10, 2020
Protochlamydia phocaeensis sp. nov., a new Chlamydiales species with host dependent replication cycle
Jacques Y Bou Khalil1, Samia Benamar2, Fabrizio Di Pinto3
1Aix-Marseille Université, Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM U1095, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Marseille, France; Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France.
Abstract:
Chlamydiae are pathogenic and symbiotic bacteria, which form an important part of amoeba-associated microorganisms. In this paper, we report the isolation, developmental cycle and genome analysis of Protochlamydia phocaeensis sp. nov., an obligate intracellular parasite with a large host spectrum, able to infect Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, and Vermamoeba vermiformis. The genome size is 3,424,182 bp with a GC content of 42%. This bacterium displayed a particular developmental cycle depending on the infected host. The P. phocaeensis showed typical inclusion vacuoles in A. castellanii, while these were absent in V. vermiformis. Since "Chlamydiae-amoebae" interactions are supposed to depend on the chlamydial species, our findings speculate that variations in the developmental cycle of certain Chlamydiae are also host dependent.
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