[DrN (OP)]

I've heard you can carry it on you, like bacteria on your skin, but I don't know what it does, if anything, or if it can make you ill. are they tiny bacteria, or a fungus (myco would suggest this)? do they infiltrate the cells, or just sit on the surface? hope someone can enlighten me.
L

[nilmot]

Mycoplasma are one of the smallest bacteria only somthing like 1 to 0.5 micrometers, very distinctive because they do not possess cell wall at all! Most of them are pathogenic to humans, plants....etc.

A common disease pneumonia is caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae

There are more information on mycoplamsa but I haven't finish reading the textbook yet.

Tom

[DrN (OP)]

Thanks - interesting about the lack of cell wall. does this mean they're not actually bacteria though? I thought that was part of the classification, although I could be wrong there.

[nilmot]

Lack of cell wall does not necessary mean that they are not bacteria.

It is generally the case that most bacteria carry at least some peptidoglycan cell wall made of oligosaccharide (oligo in latin means some or few) the sugars are N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid linked by amino acids.

However there are some rare cases of bacteria that there are no cell wall present, and they are generally more nasty then your everyday average nice bacteria. One of the Neisseria spp.  (I will check which one) does not contain cell wall and are very pathogenic to human.

Lack of cell wall indicates that it's not as easy to detect it as 'foreign' by immune system and the antibiotic e.g penicilin that work specifically on cell wall becomes useless as well.

Tom

[Cut Chemist]

is it gonorhea?

[nilmot]

Sorry, a better example of a bacteria, if you can call this one a bacteria is Chalmydia trachomatis currently classified as G-ve bacteria/intracelluar parasite; however the amount of peptidoglycan detected is minimal if any, Nesseria gonnorheae is a diplococcus G-ve bacteria so little amount of cell wall is present

Tom

[iko]

This topic seems a bit neglected and I cannot see a reason for that...
Mycoplasmas themselves are underestimated, but they can be really dangerous!
I'll search and do something about it.
Promise


 

quote:Do mycoplasmas cause human cancer?

 A linkage between mycoplasmas and malignancy was mainly proposed in the 1960s when human-associated mycoplasmas were becoming of interest given the novel characterization of the human respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Associations with leukemia and other malignancies, however, were largely ascribed to tissue-culture contamination, which is now recognized as a significant potential problem in molecular biology circles. A few epidemiological studies, however, continue to raise concern over such a linkage.
 As well, in vitro data have demonstrated the potential for some mycoplasmas to induce karyotypic changes and malignant transformation during chronic tissue-culture infestation. As cellular and molecular mechanisms for such transformation become studied, a resurgence of interest in this area is inevitable. A role for mycoplasmas in malignancy of any sort is conjectural, but there remains a need to continue with focussed epidemiological and laboratory investigations.

from:  Nevio Cimolai Can. J. Microbiol. 2001;47(: 691-697.

Good start for a discussion, isn't it?
iko

[iko]

Mycoplasmas and leukemia.

This could be the title.
The discussion is open,
you are invited to join...
and post a reply.

iko