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Originally published in Science Express on 8 April 2004
Science 30 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5671, pp. 728 - 730
DOI: 10.1126/science.1096330
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Reports

Illuminating the Evolutionary History of Chlamydiae

Matthias Horn,1* Astrid Collingro,1 Stephan Schmitz-Esser,1 Cora L. Beier,1 Ulrike Purkhold,1 Berthold Fartmann,2 Petra Brandt,2 Gerald J. Nyakatura,2 Marcus Droege,2 Dmitrij Frishman,3 Thomas Rattei,3 Hans-Werner Mewes,3 Michael Wagner1

Chlamydiae are the major cause of preventable blindness and sexually transmitted disease. Genome analysis of a chlamydia-related symbiont of free-living amoebae revealed that it is twice as large as any of the pathogenic chlamydiae and had few signs of recent lateral gene acquisition. We showed that about 700 million years ago the last common ancestor of pathogenic and symbiotic chlamydiae was already adapted to intracellular survival in early eukaryotes and contained many virulence factors found in modern pathogenic chlamydiae, including a type III secretion system. Ancient chlamydiae appear to be the originators of mechanisms for the exploitation of eukaryotic cells.

1 Department of Microbial Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Conservation Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
2 MWG Biotech AG, Anzinger Strasse 7a, 85560 Ebersberg, Germany.
3 Department of Genome-Oriented Bioinformatics, Technische Universität München, Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan, Am Forum 1, 85354 Freising, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: horn{at}microbial-ecology.net

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