''Chlamydia caviae'' is a bacterium that can be recovered from the
conjunctiva
The conjunctiva is a thin mucous membrane that lines the inside of the eyelids and covers the sclera (the white of the eye). It is composed of non-keratinized, stratified squamous epithelium with goblet cells, stratified columnar epithelium ...
of
Guinea pig
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...
s suffering from ocular
inflammation
Inflammation (from la, wikt:en:inflammatio#Latin, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or Irritation, irritants, and is a protective response involving im ...
and eye discharge. It is also possible to infect the genital tract of Guinea pigs with ''C. caviae'' and elicit a disease that is very similar to human
Chlamydia trachomatis infection. ''C. caviae'' infects primarily the
mucosal epithelium and is not invasive.
''C. caviae'' is markedly specific for Guinea pigs, as attempts to infect mice, hamsters, rabbits and gerbils have been unsuccessful, except for one experimentally infected gerbil. The five known ''C. caviae'' isolates are indistinguishable, based on ompA gene sequence.
Genome structure
''C. caviae'' has a relatively small genome that contains 1.17 Mbp with 998 protein coding genes. Additionally, ''C. caviae'' strain GPIC contains an extrachromosomal
plasmid
A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria; how ...
, pCpGP1.
References
External links
Chlamydiae.comType strain of ''Chlamydophila caviae'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Further reading
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Chlamydiota
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