RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Collingro, Astrid A1 Poppert, Sven A1 Heinz, Eva A1 Schmitz-Esser, Stephan A1 Essig, Andreas A1 Schweikert, Michael A1 Wagner, Michael A1 Horn, MatthiasYR 2005 T1 Recovery of an environmental chlamydia strain from activated sludge by co-cultivation with Acanthamoeba sp. JF Microbiology, VO 151 IS 1 SP 301 OP 309 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.27406-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Chlamydiae are a unique group of obligate intracellular bacteria comprising important pathogens of vertebrates as well as symbionts of free-living amoebae. Although there is ample molecular evidence for a huge diversity and wide distribution of chlamydiae in nature, environmental chlamydiae are currently represented by only few isolates. This paper reports the recovery of a novel environmental chlamydia strain from activated sludge by co-cultivation with Acanthamoeba sp. The recovered environmental chlamydia strain UV-7 showed the characteristic morphology of chlamydial developmental stages as revealed by electron microscopy and was identified as a new member of the family Parachlamydiaceae (98·7 % 16S rRNA sequence similarity to Parachlamydia acanthamoebae). Infection studies suggested that Parachlamydia sp. UV-7 is not confined to amoeba hosts but is also able to invade mammalian cells. These findings outline a new straightforward approach to retrieving environmental chlamydiae from nature without prior, tedious isolation and cultivation of their natural host cells, and lend further support to suggested implications of environmental chlamydiae for public health., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.27406-0