In vivo role of capsular polysaccharide in Mycoplasma mycoides.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30541131.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1093/infdis/jiy713 and PMC identifier 6473168.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Capsular polysaccharides have been confirmed to be an important virulence trait in many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Similarly, they are proposed to be virulence traits in minimal Mycoplasma that cause disease in humans and animals. In the current study, goats were infected with the caprine pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri or an engineered mutant lacking the capsular polysaccharide, galactofuranose. Goats infected with the mutant strain showed only transient fever. In contrast, 5 of 8 goats infected with the parental strain reached end-point criteria after infection. These findings confirm that galactofuranose is a virulence factor in M. mycoides.
Medical subject headings
- Goat Diseases
- Mycoplasma Infections
- Mycoplasma mycoides
- Polysaccharides, Bacterial