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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2004, p. 3922-3927, Vol. 186, No. 12
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.12.3922-3927.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Spreading Factors of Mycoplasma alligatoris, a Flesh-Eating Mycoplasma

D. R. Brown,1* L. A. Zacher,1 and W. G. Farmerie2

Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine,1 Genome Sequencing Services Laboratory, Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-08802

Received 9 January 2004/ Accepted 17 March 2004

Mycoplasma alligatoris causes lethal invasive disease of alligators and caimans. A homolog of the nagH gene, encoding a hyaluronidase secreted by Clostridium perfringens, and a C. perfringens hyaluronidase nagI or nagK pseudogene were discovered in the M. alligatoris genome. The nagH gene was detected by PCR in the closest relative of M. alligatoris, Mycoplasma crocodyli, but not in 40 other species representing the Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Spiroplasma phylogenetic clusters. The hyaluronidase activity in the cellular fraction of M. alligatoris and M. crocodyli SP4 broth cultures was equivalent to 10–16 U of Streptomyces hyalurolyticus hyaluronidase CFU–1. Negligible activity was present in the cell-free supernatant fraction. No chondroitinase activity was detected. There is also a novel homolog of the nanI gene, which encodes a sialidase secreted by C. perfringens, in the M. alligatoris genome. The signature YRIP and SXDXGXTW motifs and catalytic residues of the clostridial sialidase are conserved in the mycoplasmal gene, but the leader sequence necessary for its secretion by C. perfringens is absent. The gene was not detected by PCR in any other mycoplasma. Potent cell-associated sialidase activity was present in M. alligatoris colonies on agar but not in the cell-free supernatants of broth cultures or in M. crocodyli. The presence of hyaluronidase and sialidase in M. alligatoris is consistent with the rapid invasiveness and necrotizing effects of this organism, and the lack of sialidase in M. crocodyli is consistent with its comparatively attenuated virulence. This genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that the spreading factors hyaluronidase and sialidase, a combination unprecedented in mycoplasmas, are the basis of the virulence of M. alligatoris.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0880. Phone: (352) 392-4700, ext. 3975. Fax: (352) 392-9704. E-mail: brownd{at}mail.vetmed.ufl.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2004, p. 3922-3927, Vol. 186, No. 12
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.12.3922-3927.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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