Critical role of dispensable genes in Mycoplasma agalactiae interaction with mammalian cells.

ABSTRACT: Mycoplasmas are minimal bacteria whose genomes barely exceed the smallest amount of information required to sustain autonomous life. Despite this apparent simplicity, several mycoplasmas are successful pathogens of humans and animals, in which they establish intimate interactions with epithelial cells at mucosal surfaces. To identify biological functions mediating mycoplasma interactions with mammalian cells, we produced a library of transposon knockout mutants in the ruminant pathogen Mycoplasma agalactiae and used this library to identify mutants displaying a growth-deficient pheonotype in cell culture. M. agalactiae mutants displaying a 3-fold reduction in CFU titers to nearly complete extinction in coculture with HeLa cells were identified. Mapping of transposon insertion sites reveale

SUBMITTER: Baranowski E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2849427 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature