Chlamydiae and the biochemistry of intracellular parasitism

Abstract

Despite the clinical and economic importance of chlamydial infections, many aspects of their basic biology, biochemistry and genetics have not been studied, and the metabolic relationships that exist between chlamydiae and their hosts are just beginning to be elucidated. While chlamydiae can biosynthesize some metabolic intermediates, they appear to be dependent on the host cell for others, which probably restricts them to an intracellular habitat.