Genetic diversity of the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydophila pneumoniae by genome-wide analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms: evidence for highly clonal population structure

摘要

BackgroundChlamydophila pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular bacterium that replicates in a biphasic life cycle within eukaryotic host cells. Four published genomes revealed an identity of > 99 %. This remarkable finding raised questions about the existence of distinguishable genotypes in correlation with geographical and anatomical origin.