As a first step toward the design of an epitope vaccine to prevent contagious agalactia, the strongly immunogenic 55-kDa protein of Mycoplasma agalactiae was studied and found to correspond to the AvgC protein encoded by the avgC gene. The avg genes of M. agalactiae, which encode four variable surface lipoproteins, display a significant homology to the vsp (variable membrane surface lipoprotein...

Weibull, C. (Central Bacteriological Laboratory of Stockholm City, Stockholm, Sweden), and Britt-Marie Lundin. Size and shape of pleuropneumonia-like organisms grown in liquid media. J. Bacteriol. 84:513-519. 1962.-Samples of liquid cultures containing mainly nonaggregated cells of Mycoplasma agalactiae or M. laidlawii were transferred to agar blocks containing the same medium as the liquid cul...

Mycoplasma agalactiae and Mycoplasma bovis both are responsible for respiratory conditions in sheep and goats. M. agalactiae is a major pathogen of sheep and goats and accounts for almost 90% of outbreaks of contagious agalactia syndrome in goats and almost 100% in sheep. On the basis of clinical signs and cultural, morphological, and biochemical characterization it is almost impossible to diff...

A new detection test for the mycoplasmas causing contagious agalactia, Mycoplasma agalactiae, M. capricolum subsp. capricolum and M. mycoides subsp. mycoides L. C., was developed. It was based on two polymerase chain reaction assays: the Ma-PCR for the detection of M. agalactiae and the MYC-PCR for the 'mycoides cluster' thus including M. capricolum subsp. capricolum and M. mycoides subsp. myco...

Thirteen strains of mycoplasma representing six different species, Acholeplasma laidlawii, Mycoplasma dispar, M. bovirhinis, M. bovigenitalium, M. agalactiae subsp. bovis, and M. mycoides subsp. mycoides, were inoculated into the mammary glands of mice, and the number of mycoplasmas present in the glands three days after inoculation was determined. The predominant response included involution o...

Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capricolum (Mcc) is one of the causative agents of contagious agalactia (CA), which is an important disease in sheep and goats in the Mediterranean and Middle East countries. Mycoplasma agalactiae is the classic agent of CA in sheep and goats. Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies Capri (Mmc), Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capricolum (Mcc), and Mycoplasma putrefacie...

We developed a new recombinant enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (rELISA) for serodiagnosis of contagious agalactia (CA), a disease caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae in sheep and goats. The assay is based on two M. agalactiae surface proteins, namely, P80 and P55. Identification of these immunodominant and common antigens was accomplished by examining the antibody response elicited in sheep durin...

Mycoplasmas are commonly described as the simplest self-replicating organisms, whose evolution was mainly characterized by genome downsizing with a proposed evolutionary scenario similar to that of obligate intracellular bacteria such as insect endosymbionts. Thus far, analysis of mycoplasma genomes indicates a low level of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) implying that DNA acquisition is strongl...

Mycoplasma agalactiae is the etiological agent of the contagious agalactia syndrome in sheep and goats and causes significant economic losses worldwide. Yet the mechanism of pathogenesis is largely unknown. Even whole-genome sequence analysis of its pathogenic type strain did not lead to any conclusions regarding its virulence or pathogenicity factors. Although inflammation and tissue destructi...