''Mycoplasma mycoides'' is a

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 am ...

l species of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Mycoplasma ''Mycoplasma'' is a genus of bacteria that, like the other members of the class '' Mollicutes'', lack a cell wall around their cell membranes. Peptidoglycan ( murein) is absent. This characteristic makes them naturally resistant to antibioti ...

'' in the class Mollicutes. This

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in old ...

is a

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson h ...

that lives in ruminants. ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' comprises two subspecies, '' mycoides'' and ''

capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...

'', which infect cattle and small ruminants such as goats respectively.

''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides''

The

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

"''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' (Mmm)", previously named "''Mycoplasma mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' Small Colony (SC) type (MmmSC)", is known as the agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), a contagious lung disease of cattle. It was first isolated in 1898 by Edmond Nocard et al. and the first mycoplasma to be isolated at all. Formerly, ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' was known as ''Asterococcus mycoides''.

The ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' cluster

''Mycoplasma mycoides'' belongs to the ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' cluster, or ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' group, a group of closely related infectious mycoplasmas, first named by Weisburg et al. The cluster

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

contains the genera ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' and ''

Mycoplasma capricolum ''Mycoplasma capricolum'' is a species of Mycoplasma bacteria. It is primarily a pathogen of goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated fro ...

'' and comprises six species and subspecies: *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Small Colony (MmmSC) *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Large Colony (MmmLC) *''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''capri'' (Mmc) * ''M. capricolum'' subsp. ''capricolum'' (Mcc) * ''M. capricolum'' subsp. ''capripneumoniae'' (Mccp) *''Mycoplasma'' sp. 'bovine group 7' (MBG7) The last one is disputed with respect to the question of being a separate species. In 2009, L. Manso-Silván et al. proposed to consider ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''mycoides'' biotype Large Colony as equal with ''M. mycoides'' subsp. ''capri''. Furthermore, they proposed the name ''Mycoplasma leachii'' sp. nov. for ''Mycoplasma'' sp. 'bovine group 7' as a separate species.

Minimal genome project

In 2010, as part of the Minimal Genome Project, a team of the J. Craig Venter Institute synthesized a modified version (JCVI-syn1.0) of the 1,000,000 base pair ''M. mycoides'' genome and implanted it into a DNA-free bacterial shell of ''

''; the resulting organism was shown to be self-replicating. In 2016, the Venter Institute used genes from the JCVI-syn1.0 to synthesize an even smaller genome they call JCVI-syn3.0, that contains 531,560 base pairs and 473 genes.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Mycoplasma mycoides'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1768280 Cryozoa Bacteria described in 1929 mycoides