Abstract
AbstractMycoplasma feriruminatorisis a fast-growingMycoplasmaspecies isolated from wildCaprinaeand first described in 2013.M. feriruminatorisisolates have been associated with arthritis, keratoconjunctivitis, pneumonia and septicemia, but were also recovered from apparently healthy animals. To better understand what defines this species, we performed a genomic survey on 14 strains collected from free-ranging or zoo-housed animals between 1987 and 2017. The average chromosome size of theM. feriruminatorisstrains was 1,040 ± 0,024 kbp, with 24% G+C and 852 ± 31 CDS. The core genome and pan-genome of theM. feriruminatorisspecies contained 628 and 1,312 protein families, respectively. TheM. feriruminatorisstrains displayed a relatively closed pan-genome, with many features and putative virulence factors shared with species from theM. mycoidescluster, including the MIB-MIP Ig cleavage system, a repertoire of DUF285 surface proteins and a complete biosynthetic pathway for galactan.M. feriruminatorisgenomes were found to be mostly syntenic, although repertoires of mobile genetic elements, including Mycoplasma Integrative and Conjugative Elements, insertion sequences, and a single plasmid varied. Phylogenetic- and gene content analyzes confirmed thatM. feriruminatoriswas closer to theM. mycoidescluster than to the ruminant speciesM. yeatsiiandM. putrefaciens. Ancestral genome reconstruction showed that the emergence of theM. feriruminatorisspecies was associated with the gain of 17 gene families, some of which encode defense enzymes and surface proteins, and the loss of 25 others, some of which are involved in sugar transport and metabolism. This comparative study suggests that theM. mycoidescluster could be extended to includeM. feriruminatoris. We also find evidence that the specific organization and structure of the DnaA boxes around theoriCofM. feriruminatorismay contribute to drive the remarkable fast growth of this minimal bacterium.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory