Chlamydia buteonis, a new Chlamydia species isolated from a red-shouldered hawk

K Laroucau; F Vorimore; R Aaziz; L Solmonson; R C Hsia; P M Bavoil; P Fach; M Hölzer; A Wuenschmann; K Sachse

doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2019.06.002

Chlamydia buteonis, a new Chlamydia species isolated from a red-shouldered hawk

Syst Appl Microbiol. 2019 Sep;42(5):125997. doi: 10.1016/j.syapm.2019.06.002. Epub 2019 Jun 19.

Authors

K Laroucau¹, F Vorimore², R Aaziz², L Solmonson³, R C Hsia⁴, P M Bavoil⁵, P Fach⁶, M Hölzer⁷, A Wuenschmann³, K Sachse⁷

Affiliations

¹ University Paris-Est, Anses, Animal Health Laboratory, Bacterial Zoonoses Unit, Maisons-Alfort, France. Electronic address: karine.laroucau@anses.fr.
² University Paris-Est, Anses, Animal Health Laboratory, Bacterial Zoonoses Unit, Maisons-Alfort, France.
³ Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, St. Paul, MN, USA.
⁴ University of Maryland, Electron Microscopy Core Imaging Facility, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
⁵ University of Maryland, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
⁶ University Paris-Est, Anses, Food Research Laboratory, IdentyPath Platform, Maisons-Alfort, France.
⁷ RNA Bioinformatics and High-Throughput Analysis, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.

PMID: 31257045
DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2019.06.002

Abstract

Chlamydiaceae are obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens for humans and animals. A recent study highlighted that a Chlamydiaceae intermediary between C. psittaci and C. abortus can infect hawks. Here, an isolate was obtained upon passage of cloacal and conjunctival sac material collected from a female hatch-year red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) in cultured cells. The diseased bird, one of 12 birds housed in a rehabilitation center, developed conjunctivitis and later died. Swabs from both sites tested positive for Chlamydia using the QuickVue Chlamydia test. The isolate, named RSHA, tested negative in qPCR assays specific for C. psittaci and C. abortus, respectively. Analysis of the 16S rRNA, 23S rRNA and whole genome sequences as well as MLST, ANIb and TETRA values reveal that C. psittaci and C. abortus are the closest relatives of RSHA. However, the overall results strongly suggest a phylogenetic intermediate position between these two species. Therefore, we propose the introduction of a new species designated Chlamydia buteonis with RSHA^T as the type strain.

Keywords: Chlamydiaceae; Electron microscopy; MLST; Red-shouldered hawk; WGS.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bird Diseases / microbiology*
Cell Line
Chlamydia / classification*
Chlamydia / genetics
Chlamydia / ultrastructure
DNA, Bacterial / genetics
Female
Genes, Bacterial / genetics
Hawks / microbiology*
Multilocus Sequence Typing
Phylogeny*
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
RNA, Ribosomal, 23S / genetics
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Species Specificity

Substances

DNA, Bacterial
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
RNA, Ribosomal, 23S