Life on arginine for Mycoplasma hominis: clues from its minimal genome and comparison with other human urogenital mycoplasmas.

ABSTRACT: Mycoplasma hominis is an opportunistic human mycoplasma. Two other pathogenic human species, M. genitalium and Ureaplasma parvum, reside within the same natural niche as M. hominis: the urogenital tract. These three species have overlapping, but distinct, pathogenic roles. They have minimal genomes and, thus, reduced metabolic capabilities characterized by distinct energy-generating pathways. Analysis of the M. hominis PG21 genome sequence revealed that it is the second smallest genome among self-replicating free living organisms (665,445 bp, 537 coding sequences (CDSs)). Five clusters of genes were predicted to have undergone horizontal gene transfer (HGT) between M. hominis and the phylogenetically distant U. parvum species. We reconstructed M. hominis metabolic pathways from the predict

SUBMITTER: Pereyre S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2751442 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature