''Mycoplasma mycoides'' is a

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

l species of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Mycoplasma ''Mycoplasma'' is a genus of bacteria that, like the other members of the class ''Mollicutes'', lack a cell wall, and its peptidoglycan, around their cell membrane. The absence of peptidoglycan makes them naturally resistant to antibiotics ...

'' in the class

Mollicutes Mollicutes is a class of bacteria distinguished by the absence of a cell wall and its peptidoglycan. The word "Mollicutes" is derived from the Latin ' (meaning "soft" or "pliable"), and ' (meaning "skin"). Individuals are very small, typically on ...

. This

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

is a

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

that lives in

ruminant Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...

s. ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' comprises two subspecies, '' mycoides'' and ''

capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

'', which infect cattle and small ruminants such as goats respectively.

''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides''

The

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

"''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' (Mmm)", previously named "''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' Small Colony (SC) type (MmmSC)", is known as the agent of

contagious bovine pleuropneumonia Contagious may refer to: * Contagious disease Literature * Contagious (magazine), a marketing publication * ''Contagious'' (novel), a science fiction thriller novel by Scott Sigler Music Albums *''Contagious'' (Peggy Scott-Adams album), 1997 ...

(CBPP), a contagious lung disease of cattle. It was first isolated in 1898 by Edmond Nocard et al. and the first mycoplasma to be isolated at all. Formerly, ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' was known as ''Asterococcus mycoides''.

The ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' cluster

''Mycoplasma mycoides'' belongs to the ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' cluster, or ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' group, a group of closely related infectious mycoplasmas, first named by Weisburg et al. The cluster

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

contains the genera ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' and '' Mycoplasma capricolum'' and comprises six species and subspecies: *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Small Colony (MmmSC) *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Large Colony (MmmLC) *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''capri'' (Mmc) * ''M. capricolum'' subsp. ''capricolum'' (Mcc) * ''M. capricolum'' subsp. ''capripneumoniae'' (Mccp) *''Mycoplasma'' sp. 'bovine group 7' (MBG7) The last one is disputed with respect to the question of being a separate species. In 2009, L. Manso-Silván et al. proposed to consider ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Large Colony as equal with ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''capri''. Furthermore, they proposed the name ''Mycoplasma leachii'' sp. nov. for ''Mycoplasma'' sp. 'bovine group 7' as a separate species.

Genome

The first genome of ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' to be sequenced was that of strain PG1^T, the Causative Agent of

Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia Contagious may refer to: * Contagious disease Literature * Contagious (magazine), a marketing publication * ''Contagious'' (novel), a science fiction thriller novel by Scott Sigler Music Albums *''Contagious'' (Peggy Scott-Adams album), 1997 ...

(CBPP). It has a single circular

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

of 1,211,703 bp and contains 985 putative

genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

, of which 72 are part of insertion sequences and encode transposases. This was the highest density of insertion sequences (13% of the genome size) of all sequenced bacterial genomes at the time of its publication (2004).

Minimal genome project

In 2010, as part of the Minimal Genome Project, a team of the J. Craig Venter Institute synthesized a modified version (JCVI-syn1.0) of the 1,000,000 base pair ''M. mycoides'' genome and implanted it into a DNA-free bacterial shell of '' Mycoplasma capricolum''; the resulting organism was shown to be self-replicating. In 2016, the Venter Institute used genes from the JCVI-syn1.0 to synthesize an even smaller genome they call JCVI-syn3.0, that contains 531,560 base pairs and 473 genes.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1768280 Cryozoa Bacteria described in 1929 mycoides