Chlamydial plasmids and bacteriophages

• Authors: Małgorzata Pawlikowska-Warych , Joanna Śliwa-Dominiak , Wiesław Deptuła
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Chlamydia are absolute pathogens of humans and animals; despite being rather well recognised, they are still open for discovery. One such discovery is the occurrence of extrachromosomal carriers of genetic information. In prokaryotes, such carriers include plasmids and bacteriophages, which are present only among some Chlamydia species. Plasmids were found exclusively in Chlamydia (C.) trachomatis, C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae, C. suis, C. felis, C. muridarum and C. caviae. In prokaryotic organisms, plasmids usually code for genes that facilitate survival of the bacteria in the environment (although they are not essential). In chlamydia, their role has not been definitely recognised, apart from the fact that they participate in the synthesis of glycogen and encode proteins responsible for their virulence. Furthermore, in C. suis it was evidenced that the plasmid is integrated in a genomic island and contains the tetracycline-resistance gene. Bacteriophages specific for chlamydia (chlamydiaphages) were detected only in six species: C. psittaci, C. abortus, C. felis, C. caviae C. pecorum and C. pneumoniae. These chlamydiaphages cause inhibition of the developmental cycle, and delay transformation of reticulate bodies (RBs) into elementary bodies (EBs), thus reducing the possibility of infecting other cells in time. Plasmids and bacteriophages can be used in the diagnostics of chlamydioses; although especially in the case of plasmids, they are already used for detection of chlamydial infections. In addition, bacteriophages could be used as therapeutic agents to replace antibiotics, potentially addressing the problem of increasing antibiotic-resistance among chlamydia.

Keywords

EN

Chlamydia; plasmid; bacteriophage

• Publisher: Polish Biochemical Society
• Journal: Acta Biochimica Polonica
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-6

Dates

published

2015

received

2014-03-28

revised

2014-12-10

accepted

2015-01-09

online

2015-02-06

Contributors

author

Małgorzata Pawlikowska-Warych

• Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

author

Joanna Śliwa-Dominiak

• Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

author

Wiesław Deptuła

• Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

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