Deciphering the molecular basis of the interactions between the parasite Mycoplasma gallisepticum and its avian hosts suffers from the lack of genetic tools available for the pathogen. In the absence of well established methods for targeted disruption of relevant M. gallisepticum genes, we started to develop suicide vectors and equipped them with a short fragment of M. gallisepticum origin or r...

Tests for the presence of pathogen DNA or antibodies are routinely used to survey for current or past infections. In diseases that emerge following a host jump estimates of infection rate might be under- or overestimated. We here examine whether observed rates of infection are biased for a non-focal host species in a model system. The bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a widespread pathogen ...

Occlusion of cerebral capillaries due to acute swelling of the endothelial cells has been demonstrated in the brains of turkeys with encephalopathy caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum (S-6 strain) infection. Similar capillary lesions were seen in rats with rolling disease, caused by M. neurolyticum toxin. Such lesions may be the basis of ischemic necrosis of the brain.

A ruthenium red-staining capsule was observed on two pathogenic strains, but not on one nonpathogenic strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum. The capsule appeared to mediate cytadsorption of mycoplasmas to the chicken tracheal epithelium without evidence of membrane fusion. No relationship was seen between the presence of capsule and hemagglutination titers of the strains examined.

2009 Poultry Science 88:567–570 doi:10.3382/ps.2008-00394

The development of high-throughput technologies is increasingly resulting in identification of numerous cases of low correlation between mRNA and the protein level in cells. These controversial observations were made on various bacteria, such as E. coli, Desulfovibrio vulgaris, and Lactococcus lactis. Thus, it is important to develop technologies, including high-throughput techniques, aimed at ...

The genome size of a mycoplasmalike organism was determined by comparing fluorescence intensities of restriction fragments. Its genome size was similar to that of Mycoplasma gallisepticum and much smaller than that of Acholeplasma laidlawii. Although the genome size is "mycoplasmalike," other molecular data indicate a closer evolutionary relationship to A. laidlawii.