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A Metabolic Enzyme as a Primary Virulence Factor of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony

TLDR
A novel primary virulence determinant is identified in Mycoplasma mycoides subsp.
Abstract
During evolution, pathogenic bacteria have developed complex interactions with their hosts. This has frequently involved the acquisition of virulence factors on pathogenicity islands, plasmids, transposons, or prophages, allowing them to colonize, survive, and replicate within the host. In contrast, Mycoplasma species, the smallest self-replicating organisms, have regressively evolved from gram-positive bacteria by reduction of the genome to a minimal size, with the consequence that they have economized their genetic resources. Hence, pathogenic Mycoplasma species lack typical primary virulence factors such as toxins, cytolysins, and invasins. Consequently, little is known how pathogenic Mycoplasma species cause host cell damage, inflammation, and disease. Here we identify a novel primary virulence determinant in Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony (SC), which causes host cell injury. This virulence factor, released in significant amounts in the presence of glycerol in the growth medium, consists of toxic by-products such as H2O2 formed by l-alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase (GlpO), a membrane-located enzyme that is involved in the metabolism of glycerol. When embryonic calf nasal epithelial cells are infected with M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC in the presence of physiological amounts of glycerol, H2O2 is released inside the cells prior to cell death. This process can be inhibited with monospecific anti-GlpO antibodies.

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Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis and laboratory detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

TL;DR: The reductive evolutionary process that has led to the minimal genome of M. pneumoniae suggests that it exists as a highly specialized parasitic bacterium capable of residing in an intracellular state within the respiratory tissues, occasionally emerging to produce symptoms.
Journal ArticleDOI

Mycoplasma pneumoniae from the Respiratory Tract and Beyond

TL;DR: This review focuses on the many new developments that have occurred over the past several years that enhance the understanding of this microbe, which is among the smallest bacterial pathogens but one of great clinical importance.
Journal ArticleDOI

Being pathogenic, plastic, and sexual while living with a nearly minimal bacterial genome

TL;DR: This first description of large-scale HGT among mycoplasmas sharing the same ecological niche challenges the generally accepted evolutionary scenario in which gene loss is the main driving force of myCoplasma evolution.
Journal ArticleDOI

Glycerol Metabolism Is Important for Cytotoxicity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the enzyme encoded by the M. pneumoniae glpD gene is a glycerol 3-phosphate oxidase that forms hydrogen peroxide rather than NADH(2).
Journal ArticleDOI

Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC

TL;DR: This strategy enables the mycoplasma to exploit the minimal genetic information in its small genome, not only to fulfil the basic functions for its replication but also to damage host cells in intimate proximity thereby acquiring the necessary bio-molecules, such as amino acids and nucleic acid precursors, for its own biosynthesis and survival.
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