Mycoplasma penetrans

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Firmicutes; Mollicutes; Mycoplasmatales; Mycoplasmataceae; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasma penetrans

Species

NCBI: [1]

Mycoplasma penetrans, Mycoplasma penetrans HF-2 strain

Description and significance

Mycoplasma penetrans looks like an elongated flask and has a tip-like structure at one pole of the cell. Mycoplasma penetrans are parasitic bacteria and inhabit humans. Mycoplasma penetrans was first isolated from a urine sample from a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patient. The size of the M.penetrans genome was estimated to be 1.3 Mb. It is important to have its genome sequenced because it is suggested that this organism may possess additional genetic information involved in its unique infection process. The complete nucleotide sequence of Mycoplasma penetrans HF-2 strain was determined. In the analysis of the genomic sequence, it was revealed that Mycoplasma penetrans possesses a large number of paralogous gene repertoires with chromosomal structures that allow for antigenic variation. This influences how persistent they are at infecting human hosts.

Genome structure

Shotgun sequencing was used to sequence this bacteria. The genome size of Mycoplasma penetrans HF-2 strain was sequenced to be1 358 633 bp. Mycoplasma penetrans has a single circular chromosome containing 1038 predicted coding sequences (CDSs). In addition, it has one set of rRNA genes and 30 tRNA genes.

Cell structure and metabolism

Mycoplasmas penetrans, like all of the other mycoplasma species do not have a cell wall and lack most of the genes that are required for nutrient metabolism. For this reason, they have adopted a parasitic lifestyle in different host organisms. They are flask-like with a tip like shape at one side of the pole.

Ecology

Mycoplasma penetrans is an intracellular bacterial pathogen. Thus its interaction with humans are of a parasitic sort.

Pathology

So far found only in humans, Mycoplasma penetrans is an intracellular bacterial pathogen. It typically penetrates into human cells and infects humans in the urogenital and respiratory tracts. It attaches to host epithelial cells with its tip structure, the attachment organelle. Mycoplasma penetrans is particularly associated with HIV-1 infection. There are Anti-M. penetrans antibodies found in patients in the process of developing AIDS, as well as, asymptomatic HIV carriers. There is a rapid decline in CD4-positive lymphocyte counts in M.penetrans-seropositive HIV-infected individuals. There is also mitogenic effects of M. penetrans on lymphocytes. This implies that infection of Mycoplasma penetrans will deteriorate the immune system in HIV infection. Mycoplasma penetrans has also been suggested to be a cause of non-HIV related urethritis and respiratory disease. Mycoplasma penetrans was also isolated in a healthy HIV- negative patient in the form of the HF-2 strain.

References

Sasaki, Y., J. Ishikawa, A. Yamashita, K. Oshima, T. Kenri, K. Furuya, C. Yoshino, A. Horino, T. Shiba, T. Sasaki and M. Hattori. “The complete genomic sequence of Mycoplasma penetrans, an intracellular bacterial pathogen in humans.” “Nucleic Acids Research”. 2002. Volume 30 No. 23 5293-5300

Lo, S.C., Hayes, M.M., Tully, J.G., Wang, R.Y., Kotani, H., Pierce, P.F., Rose, D.L., and Shih, J.W. "Mycoplasma penetrans sp. nov., from the urogenital tract of patients with AIDS." Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. (1992) 42:357-364.

Ferrer-Navarro M, Gomez A, Yanes O, Planell R, Aviles FX, Pinol J, Perez Pons JA, Querol E. “J. Proteome Res.” 2006. Volume 5 No 3, 688 -694, 2006. 10.1021/pr050340p S1535-3893(05)00340-4

A. Horino, Y. Sasaki, T. Sasaki, and T. Kenri. Multiple promoter inversions generate surface antigenic variation in Mycoplasma penetrans. Journal of Bacteriology. 2003. Volume 185. No. 1: 231-242

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/article.cgi/jprobs/2006/5/i03/html/pr050340p.html

Edited by Ling Tsay, student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano