Articles of Significant Interest in This Issue

AMinimal Replicon Enables Efficient, Species-Specific Gene Deletion in Chlamydia Members of the genus Chlamydia include pathogens causing acute and chronic diseases in humans. C. trachomatis is responsible for the majority of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Infections with distinct serovariants of C. trachomatis can lead to the development of trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness. C. pneumoniae is a significant pathogen of the human respiratory tract. Fields et al. (e00453-22) present a unique approach for deletion mutagenesis in various chlamydial strains utilizing an engineered shuttle vector containing both E. coli and Chlamydia plasmid origins of replication. This approach allows for investigation of specific infection strategies employed by each chlamydial species.