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Bacterial physiology

Chlamydiae play by their own rules

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, page 77 (2014)Cite this article

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the amoeba symbiont Protochlamydia amoebophila and the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, do synthesize peptidoglycan

Most bacteria possess a peptidoglycan sacculus (composed of a disaccharide backbone crosslinked by pentapeptide chains), which is crucial for cell division, maintaining cell shape and resisting osmotic stress. Whether the obligate, intracellular Chlamydiae contain this structure has long been debated, but two studies now show that two different Chlamydia species, the amoeba symbiont Protochlamydia amoebophila and the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, do synthesize peptidoglycan.

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References

  1. Pilhofer, M. et al. Discovery of chlamydial peptidoglycan reveals bacteria with murein sacculi but without FtsZ. Nature Comms. 4, 2856 (2013)

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  2. Liechti, G. W. et al. A new metabolic cell-wall labelling method reveals peptidoglycan in Chlamydia trachomatis. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12892 (2013)

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Authors
  1. Christina Tobin Kåhrström
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Kåhrström, C. Chlamydiae play by their own rules. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 77 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3198

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