The chlamydial developmental cycle.
Intracellular parasitism by bacterial pathogens is a complex, multi-factorial process that has been exploited successfully by a wide variety of organisms. Members of the Order Chlamydiales are obligate intracellular bacteria that are transmitted as metabolically inactive particles and must differentiate, replicate, and re-differentiate within the host cell to carry out their life cycle. Understanding the developmental cycle has been greatly advanced by the availability of complete genome sequences, DNA microarrays, and advanced cell biology techniques. Measuring transcriptional changes throughout the cycle has allowed investigators to determine the nature of the temporal gene expression changes required for bacterial growth and development.