Mycoplasma fermentans

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A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Mycoplasma fermentans

Classification

Mycoplasma fermentans

Higher order taxa

Domain (Bacteria), Phylum (Tenericutes), Class (Mollicultes), Order (Myclosplasmales), Family (Mycoplasmatacea), Genus (Mycoplasma), Species (fermentans)

Species

Mycoplasma fermentans

Figure 2: Image of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis hand

Description and significance

All mycoplasmas Mycoplasma fermentans are wall-less Gram positive bacteria that colonize human mucosa. M. fermentans are phenotypically distinguished from other bacteria by their small size (0.3-0.8 um in diameter) and lack a cell wall (figure 1). Citation. It is mostly found in the genitourinary and respiratory tracts [2]. It is also known for causing arthritis problem in humans (Vojdani et al., 1998). They are surrounded by a lipoprotein membrane which is the responsible for causing inflammatory reactions [1]. These are pathogens that affect humans and the mechanism of infection is not well known yet. It is also believed that this microbe enhances human immunedeficient virus (HIV) by inducing the viral infection [3].

Genome structure

Four strains of M. ferementans M64, JER and PG18, P140 have been isolated, and studied. Based on National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the entire genome of M. fermentans M64 have been fully sequenced and it is known to have 1,118,751 base pairs that encode for 1050 protein genes, the entire genome is circular (Shu et al., 2011). The genome structure of M. fermentans has been compare with other strain called M. fermentans strain JER (977,524 bp) which is smaller.

Metabolism

Different strains of M. fermentans have been isolated and studied to determine the biochemical variability of this microbe. It is known that this microbe is facultative anaerobe (no oxygen is required for growth but it can grow in the presence of oxygen). There is a lot of variability in the substrate used for metabolic processes. Most of the M. fermentans strains studied until now are able to use glucose during metabolic pathway, but they are also capable of using fructose or arginine, which varies among strains [5].

Ecology

Mycoplasma fermentans have been isolated from Synovial Fluids of patient with arthritis and also from patients VHI positive, urinary tract and respiratory tract. The growth condition is around 37ᵒC, which is the body temperature of its host (humans).

Pathology

M. fermentans is a pathogenic microbe that affect humans and is usually found in the genital area, and necrotizing tissue (citation). M. fermentans are being linked to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (citation). Also studies suggest that M. fermentans causes chronic fatigue in patients (Vojdani et al., 1998). Some of the strains studied like M. fermentans P.140 are known for causing severe respiratory infections and it has been demonstrated that the infection can travel through the blood to other organs such as the kidney, heart, and the brain [6]. It was discovered that during infection M. fermentans attack B cell on the immune system causing inflammatory reactions [1]. In humans it is being investigated that M. fermentans is able to enhance HIV replication, through the lipid-associated proteins present on their membrane [3]. M. fermentans seems to enhance the activation of Long term repeat gene, which is important during HIV infection, thorough a protein called toll receptor [3]

References

1 Rawadi, G. (2000). Mycoplasma fermentans interaction with monocytes/macrophages: molecular basis. Microbes and Infection 2, 955–964.

2 Vojdani, A., Choppa, P.., Tagle, C., Andrin, R., Samimi, B., and Lapp, C.. (1998). Detection of Mycoplasma genus and Mycoplasma fermentans by PCR in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Fems Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 22, 355–365. 3 Gerlic, M., Horowitz, J., Farkash, S., and Horowitz, S. (2007). The inhibitory effect of Mycoplasma fermentans on tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced apoptosis resides in the membrane lipoproteins. Cell. Microbiol. 9, 142–153. 4 Shimizu, T., Kida, Y., and Kuwano, K. (2004). Lipid-associated membrane proteins of Mycoplasma fermentans and M. penetrans activate human immunodeficiency virus long-terminal repeats through Toll-like receptors. Immunology 113, 121–129. 5 Shu, H.-W., Liu, T.-T., Chan, H.-I., Liu, Y.-M., Wu, K.-M., Shu, H.-Y., Tsai, S.-F., Hsiao, K.-J., Hu, W.S., and Ng, W.V. (2011). Genome Sequence of the Repetitive-Sequence-Rich Mycoplasma fermentans Strain M64▿. J. Bacteriol. 193, 4302–4303. 6 Afshar, B., Nicholas, R. a. j., Pitcher, D., Fielder, M. d., and Miles, R. j. (2009). Biochemical and genetic variation in Mycoplasma fermentans strains from cell line, human and animal sources. J. Appl. Microbiol. 107, 498–505. 7 Yáñez, A., Martínez-Ramos, A., Calixto, T., González-Matus, F.J., Rivera-Tapia, J.A., Giono, S., Gil, C., and Cedillo, L. (2013). Animal model of Mycoplasma fermentans respiratory infection. Bmc Res. Notes 6, 9.

Edited by Catherine Lobo of Dr. Lisa R. Moore, University of Southern Maine, Department of Biological Sciences, http://www.usm.maine.edu/bio