Med. Weter. 69 (11), 649-654, 2013

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Pawlikowska M., Deptuła W.
Characteristics of the Chlamydia of the family Chlamydiaceae that are pathogenic to humans and animals
The classification of the bacteria of the family Chlamydiaceae has undergone significant changes over the last 30 years. Initially, from the 1950s onwards, the genus Chlamydia (C.) included only two species: C. trachomatis and C. psittaci. Later, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, another two species, C. pneumonia and C. pecorum, were isolated from the existing species C. psittaci. The year 1999 saw a revolution in the chlamydial taxonomy: since, on the basis of molecular research, two genera were distinguished: the genus Chlamydia with 3 species (C. trachomatis, C. suis, C. muridarum) and the genus Chlamydophila (Cp.) with 6 species (Cp. psittaci, Cp. pneumoniae, Cp. pecorum, Cp. abortus, Cp. felis, Cp. caviae). In the last 2-3 years, further molecular studies have shown that, in fact, the Chlamydiaceae family comprises a single genus Chlamydia with 9 species. In this paper we present the changes that have occurred in the Chlamydia genus according to Bergey’s bacterial taxonomy. The paper also presents the history of the nomenclature of those bacteria and short descriptions of the nine species of Chlamydia, including the most recent data.
Key words: chlamydia, taxonomy