Mycoplasma agalactiae, an important pathogen of small ruminants, exhibits antigenic diversity by switching the expression of multiple surface lipoproteins called Vpmas (Variable proteins of M. agalactiae). Although phase variation has been shown to play important roles in many host-pathogen interactions, the biological significance and the mechanism of Vpma oscillations remain largely unclear. ...

Mycoplasmas are the smallest and simplest organisms known. They form a large group of bacteria that can infect humans, animals, and plants. Even though several techniques have been proposed to enumerate mycoplasmas in broth medium, the determination of mycoplasma growth still remains a difficult task. The potential of using flow cytometry (FC) for rapidly estimating several species of mycoplasm...

BACKGROUND Contagious agalactia (CA) of sheep and goats caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae is a widely occurring economically important disease that is difficult to control. The ELISA is commonly used for the serological detection of CA but it has some limitations and the performance of the available tests have not been properly evaluated.Two commercial ELISA kits are widely used, one involving a ...

mastitis, arthritis, keratoconjunctivitis and, occasionally, abortion. Mycoplasma agalactiae (Ma) is the main cause of the disease in sheep and goats, but M. capricolum subsp. capricolum (Mcc), M. mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc) and M. putrefaciens produce a clinically similar disease, more often in goats, which may be accompanied by pneumonia. Ma and Mcc have been isolated from wild small ruminant...

Contagious agalactia affects goats and sheep. In most infected sheep, the causal agent, Mycoplasma agalactiae, induces mastitis and/or agalactia, keratoconjunctivitis and arthritis. However, a few strains of M. agalactiae were isolated from tank milk from flocks without any clinical signs. The present study was undertaken to compare these apparently "asymptomatic" strains to classical virulent ...

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium verticillioides, a fungus that commonly contaminates maize. Sex-related effects of FB1 have been observed with respect to carcinogenicity in rodents, to performances in pigs and immunosuppression in mice. In the present study the sex-related effect of FB1 on the pig immune response was determined. Female and castrated male piglets received ...

Agrobacterium: Microbe Wiki http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Agrobacterium This website provides an excellent overview of the genus Agrobacterium. It contains photos and links to additional information. Genome of Agrobacterium tumefaciens http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/12_01/ A_tumefaciens_genome.shtml A. tumefaciens has been the most widely studied and used Agrobacterium spec...