''Acholeplasma'' are wall-less

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

in the

Mollicutes Mollicutes is a class of bacteria distinguished by the absence of a cell wall. The word "Mollicutes" is derived from the Latin ''mollis'' (meaning "soft" or "pliable"), and ''cutis'' (meaning "skin"). Individuals are very small, typically only 0. ...

class. They include

saprotrophic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

pathogenic In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

species. There are 15 recognised species. The G+C content is low, ranging from 26 - 36% ( mol%). The

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

s of ''Acholeplasma'' species range in size from 1.5 to 1.65 Mbp.

Cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

is not required for growth. The species are found on animals, and some plants and insects. The optimum growth temperature is 30 to 37 degrees Celsius. ''Acholeplasma laidlawii'' is a common contaminant of cell culture media products, and has also been used in extensive studies of lipid polymorphism because this organism alters its ratio of MGlcDG (monoglucosyl diacylglycerol) to DGlcDG (diglucosyl diacylglycerol) in response to growth conditions.

Phylogeny

References

Mollicutes Cryozoa Bacteria genera {{firmicutes-stub

Phylogeny

See also

References