Rhabdochlamydiaceae

Rhabdochlamydiaceae is a family of intracellular bacteria that has been withdrawn until species have been isolated as pure cultures in the laboratory. Rhabdochlamydia species have not been cultured in vitro and have not been deposited in culture collections.

Nonetheless, two Rhabdochlamydia species have been characterized and validly proposed. Their ribosomal RNA genes are 96.3% identical. These gene sequences are 82-87% identical to those of most Chlamydiales. These data and Rhabdochlamydia morphology indicate that these species will belong to the order Chlamydiales, class Chlamydiae, phylum Chlamydiae, domain Bacteria.

The Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia porcellionis species was identified in the hepatopancreas of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber (Crustacea: Isopoda). This isopod is a distant relative of the now-extinct fossil Trilobites, which flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era.

The second Rhabdochlamydia species is Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia crassificans, which was identified in the cockroach Blatta orientalis (Insecta: Blattodea).

Rhabdochlamydiaceae

REFERENCES
 * Corsaro D, Thomas V, Goy G, Venditti D, Radek R, Greub G. 2007.  'Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia crassificans', an intracellular bacterial pathogen of the cockroach Blatta orientalis (Insecta: Blattodea).  Syst Appl Microbiol. 30:221-228.


 * Kostanjsek R, Strus J, Drobne D, Avgustin G. 2004.  'Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia porcellionis', an intracellular bacterium from the hepatopancreas of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber (Crustacea: Isopoda).  Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 54:543-549.