Comparative genomics of Rhabdochlamydiaceae
The Rhabdochlamydiaceae family is part of the Chlamydiales order, that comprises intracellular obligate bacteria that share the same biphasic development cycle. While the most well-known and most studied members of this order are human pathogens like Chlamydia trachomatis, recent studies showed their widespread distribution in the environment. While C. trachomatis is seemingly restricted to mammals, other Chlamydiae were discovered in arthropods, protists, fishes and snakes. In particular, Rhabdochlamydiaceae were initially discovered in cockroaches and woodlouse. More recent studies also established its presence in ticks, spiders and in marine environments. In this study, we sequenced and analyzed ten genomes from ticks shown to be infected by Rhabdochlamydia.