Bacteria are indispensable for the study of fundamental molecular biology processes due to their relatively simple gene and genome architecture. The ability to engineer bacterial chromosomes is quintessential for understanding gene functions. Here we demonstrate the engineering of the small-ribosomal subunit (16S) RNA of Mycoplasma mycoides, by combining the CRISPR/Cas9 system and the yeast rec...

BACKGROUND Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm) is the causative agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), a respiratory disease of cattle, whereas the closely related Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc) is a goat pathogen. Cyto-adherence is a crucial step in host colonization by mycoplasmas and subsequent pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactions ...

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia is a severe respiratory disease of cattle that is caused by a bacterium of the Mycoplasma genus, namely Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm). In the absence of classical virulence determinants, the pathogenicity of Mmm is thought to rely on intrinsic metabolic functions and specific components of the outer cell surface. One of these latter, the capsular po...

A suicide plasmid, pExp1-ctpA::tetM-recAec, employing recA from Escherichia coli and tetM as a selection marker, was used to generate ctpA knockout mutants in Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri through targeted gene disruption. Inclusion of E. coli recA greatly enhanced both the consistency and the recovery of mutants generated by homologous recombination.

As part of an investigation of the tRNA genes of Mycoplasma mycoides, two HindIII fragments of mycoplasma DNA comprising 0.4 and 2.5 kilobases (kb), respectively, were cloned in pBR322 and their nucleotide sequences determined. Only one tRNA gene was found in the 0.4 kb fragment, the gene for tRNAArg with the anticodon TCT, while the 2.5 kb fragment contained nine different tRNA genes arranged ...

Pathogenicity of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc) for calves with and without Trypanosoma congolense (Tc) infection was undertaken. Four calves were inoculated with Tc and two of them were challenged with Mmc, while one calf was inoculated with Mmc only; another calf was inoculated with sterile broth as control. No overt disease was found in the Mmc-infected calf. The two calves with dual...