Chlamydia’s Covert Reproduction

UF researchers have resolved a two-decade-old mystery centered upon how the bacteria chlamydia divide and reproduce. Newly published results from the lab of Anthony Maurelli, a microbiologist in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions and the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI), reveal that, how these parasitic pathogens replicate, diverges from a nearly universal norm.

“Peptidoglycan is what imparts structural integrity to the bacteria itself,” explains Maurelli, who is a professor of environmental and global health. “Most other bacteria, such as E. coli, are basically encased in this peptidoglycan-wrapped shell. But chlamydia doesn’t have this. In fact, for a long time, people didn’t think it even made peptidoglycan at all.”

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