CHLAMYDIAL CELL BIOLOGY AND TAXONOMY

The Chlamydiae are known for their obligatory parasitic lifestyle and distinct biphasic life cycle (Elwell et al. 2016) (Fig. 35.1a).

Taxonomically, the Phylum Chlamydia has had numerous revisions over recent decades. The detection and characterisation of chlamydial organisms from a variety of sources has resulted in the recent expansion of the Order Chlamydiales, which presently contains nine Families (Taylor-Brown et al. 2015). The most well- described family in the Order Chlamydiales is the Chlamydiaceae, which comprises one genus, Chlamydia, that contains 12 described or proposed species. Two of these species in the genus Chlamydia are known to infect koalas; C. pecorum and C. pneumoniae (Fig. 35.1b).

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