Mycoplasma genitalium

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Mycoplasma genitalium

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Firmicutes; Mollicutes; Mycoplasmatales; Mycoplasmataceae; Mycoplasma

Genus

Mycoplasma genitalium


NCBI: Taxonomy

Description and significance

Mycoplasma genitalium is a parasitic bacterium with the smallest known genome of any free living bacteria at 580,070 bp long (1998). They are believed to be simplest form of independent life with the minimal set of genes. M. genitalium are parasites of both plants and animals including humans. They are often found invading and adhering to the epithelial linings of the respiratory or urogenital tracts of animals and are associated with many urogenital tract infections, in both men and women. In fact M. genitalium was first isolated in two men with non-gonococcal urethritis.

Besides its importance as a pathogen, its genome has been extensively studied and used in comparison with other small genome organisms, in order to determine the minimal set of genes essential for life.

Genome structure

In 1995, the entire genome of M. genitalium was sequenced in less than 6 months using the random shotgun sequencing technique. It was found to have the smallest known genome of any free-living organism at about 580 kilobase pairs long, with 479 coding sequences for proteins. For comparison M. pneumoniae has 677 protein coding sequences, H. influenzae has 1740, and E. coli K-12 has 4,288.

The genome-sequencing projects have shown that there is a 62% similarity between the coding regions of Bacillus subtilis and a 56% similarity to E. coli, however there is even closer similarity to the gram positive species of Lactobacillus and Clostridium. This provides strong evidence that the mycoplasmas are more closely related to gram-positive bacteria with low GC contents.

Low GC content is a characteristic of all mycoplasmas. M. genitalium possess an average GC content of 32%. Genes coding for rRNA average 44% and 52% for tRNA. The GC content for rRNA and tRNA are much higher than the rest of the genome due to the importance of their secondary structures for these functional RNAs.

The Mycoplasmas evolved through a process called reductive evolution from gram-positive bacteria. They have lost many genes involved in cell wall synthesis and biosynthetic systems as they adapted to a more parasitic lifestyle, as a result they have some of the smallest genomes of any self-replicating organism. In addition, their UGA codon is used as another codon for tryptophan instead of a stop codon found in other organisms.

M. genitalium lack any genes for amino acid biosynthesis and contain few genes for nucleic acid, vitamins, and fatty acid biosynthesis. They must acquire most these products from their host or through an artificial medium. This makes them difficult to study under classical experimental methods due to their strict growth requirements. They also lack genes for oxidative metabolism (Kreb cycle, or Entner-Doudoroff pathway), gluconeogenesis, catalase, peroxidase, or other toxic oxygen protective enzymes. They also appear to possess few regulatory proteins, such as two-component systems and no identifiable transcription factors. They do however possess the genes necessary for DNA replication, transcription, and translation, but even these contain a minimal set of rRNA and tRNA genes. They also contain genes for glycolysis, phospholipids metabolism, and for converting vitamins to cofactors. They have less DNA repair genes compared to E. coli and H. influenzae, it can be assumed however that the genes detected such as uracil DNA glycosylase, exinuclease ABC genes, and recA must be essential for proper DNA repair.

While M. genitalium have been able to reduce its genome during the course of its evolution as a parasite, it must maintain genes necessary for this parasitism. A significant portion of its genome is devoted to the transport of exogenous nutrients such as glucose and fructose, as well as genes for attachment organelles, adhesins, and antigenic variation to evade the host immune system. In fact it’s estimated that 5% of its total DNA is devoted to repeat fragments used for antigenic recombination of cell pole adhesins.

M. genitalium possess the minimum set of genes needed for protein synthesis and DNA replication, however as a result of this, protein synthesis and cell replication occurs much slower compared to E. coli. M. genitalium grow slowly with a generation time of 24 hours.

E. coli and M. genitalium both have 12% of their genome occupied by intergenic non-coding regions such as control elements, promoters, and terminators. However, M, genitalium possess more operon systems, probably reducing the number of regulatory elements for the transcription of genes and further contributing to the reduction of its genome. This increases gene density with the average gene size for M. genitalium at 1,040 base pairs, compared with 900 in H. influenzae.

Cell structure and metabolism

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Ecology

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Pathology

How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

Application to Biotechnology

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Current Research

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References

Deborah, Josefson. “Scientists try to discover how many genes are necessary to build a living organism.” BMJ (Bristish Medical Journal). December 18, 1999. Volume 319(7225): 1592.

Jensen, Jorgen Skov. “Mycoplasma genitalium infections” Danish Medical Bulletin – No. 1. Fenruary 2006. Volume 53: 1-27.

Maniloff, Jack. “The minimal cell genome: ‘On being the right size.’” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. September 1996. Volume 93: 10004-10006.

Morgan, Nacy A. “Microbial Minimalism: Genome Reduction in Bacterial Pathogens.” Cell. March 8, 2002. Volume 108: 583-586.

Peterson, Scott et al. “Characterization of repetitive DNA in the Mycoplasma geitialium genome: Possible role in the generation go antigenic variation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. December 1995. Volume 92: 11829-11833.

Peterson, Scott and Claire M. Fraser. “The complexity of simplicity.” Genome Biology. 2001. Volume 2(2).

Shmuel Razin, David Yogev, and Yehudith Naot. “Molecular Biology and Pathogenicity of Mycoplasmas.” Microbiology Molecular Biology Review. 1998 December; 62(4): 1094–1156.

Razin, Shmuel. “The minimal cellular genome of mycoplasma.” Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics. 1997 Feb-Apr 1997. Volume 34(1-2):124-30.

Walsh, Nancy. “M. genitalium tied to pelvic inflammatory disease: sexual transmission – Gynecology.” OB/GYN News. Sept 15, 2003.

Edited by student of Michael Yam