*Chlamydia trachomatis* can cause Nongonococcal urethritis. It also causes one of the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infections, Chlamydia.  This bacterium can also cause an ocular disease, trachoma. The life cycle of *C. trachomatis* is shown below.

*Chlamydia trachomatis*

The life cycle of the genus *Chlamydia* involves two distinct stages inside a host. It begins when infectious, spore-like spheres called elementary bodies infect an epithelial cell. Within $${}12$$ hours, these elementary bodies transform into active reticulate bodies, which multiply by division inside the host cell, forming inclusion bodies by $${}24$$ hours. Over the next $${}48$$ hours, these reticulate bodies reorganize back into elementary bodies, which are released when the host cell ruptures at $${}72$$ hours.

Chlamydia Life Cycle

The *Chlamydia* genus consists of many pathogens. They spread very easily from host to host because they form elementary bodies during their life cycle. These are spore-like which allows *Chlamydia* to be metabolically inactive until they are in a host environment.

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Non-proteobacteria gram-negative bacteria are a group of gram-negative bacteria that do not belong to the Proteobacteria phylum. This group includes spirochetes, the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) group, Planctomycetes, and Chlamydia species.

Non-proteobacteria Gram Negative Bacteria

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Microbiology covers the scope and sequence requirements for a single-semester microbiology course for non-majors. The book presents the core concepts of microbiology with a focus on applications for careers in allied health. The pedagogical features of the text make the material interesting and accessible while maintaining the career-application focus and scientific rigor inherent in the subject matter. Microbiology’s art program enhances students’ understanding of concepts through clear and effective illustrations, diagrams, and photographs.

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Planctomycetes is a phylum of aquatic bacteria inhabiting freshwater, saltwater, and brackish environments. They reproduce by budding rather than binary fission, producing a motile swarmer cell from a maternal cell. This swarmer cell eventually attaches to a surface using an appendage called a holdfast and differentiates into an immobile (sessile) cell, which is the only stage capable of reproduction.

Planctomycetes

Gram-negative cells possess a cell envelope with a significantly thinner layer of peptidoglycan—no more than about $${}4$$ nm thick—compared to gram-positive cells. Their overall cell envelope structure is highly complex, featuring a periplasmic space and an outer membrane located external to the peptidoglycan layer.

Gram Negative Cell Walls

*Chlamydia*

The *Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides* (CFB) group is a phylum of phylogenetically diverse, rod-shaped, gram-negative nonproteobacteria. These bacteria are anaerobic organoheterotrophs and avid fermenters that share similarities in their DNA nucleotide sequences and are adapted to anaerobic environments, such as the human mouth or gut, where they can be mutualistic or pathogenic.

*Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides* (CFB)

Spirochetes are gram-negative bacteria characterized by long, spiral-shaped bodies that can reach lengths up to $${}250$$ μm. Due to their extreme thinness, they are difficult to view under conventional brightfield microscopes, typically requiring darkfield fluorescent microscopy instead, and are highly difficult or impossible to culture in a laboratory.

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