Protein signatures distinctive of chlamydial species: horizontal transfers of cell wall biosynthesis genes glmU from archaea to chlamydiae and murA between chlamydiae and Streptomycesa

Chlamydiae are major human and animal pathogens. Based on alignments of different protein sequences, a number of conserved indels (insertion/deletions) were identified that appear to be unique and distinctive characteristics of the chlamydial species. The identified signatures include one 16 aa and two single aa inserts in the enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (MurA), a 1 aa insert in protein synthesis elongation factor P …