The Phospholipid Profile of Mycoplasmas

Abstract

<jats:p>The<jats:italic>de novo</jats:italic>synthesized polar lipids of<jats:italic>Mycoplasma</jats:italic>species are rather simple, comprising primarily of the acidic glycerophospholipids PG and CL. In addition, when grown in a medium containing serum, significant amounts of PC and SPM are incorporated into the mycoplasma cell membrane although these lipids are very uncommon in wall-covered bacteria. The exogenous lipids are either incorporated unchanged or the PC incorporated is modified by a deacylation-acylation enzymatic cycle to form disaturated PC. Although their small genome, in some<jats:italic>Mycoplasma</jats:italic>species, other genes involved in lipid biosynthesis were detected, resulting in the synthesis of a variety of glycolipis, phosphoglycolipids and ether lipids. We suggest that analyses and comparisons of mycoplasma polar lipids may serve as a novel and useful tool for classification. Nonetheless, to evaluate the importance of polar lipids in mycoplasma, further systematic and extensive studies on more<jats:italic>Mycoplasma</jats:italic>species are needed. While studies are needed to elucidate the role of lipids in the mechanisms governing the interaction of mycoplasmas with host eukaryotic cells, the finding that a terminal phosphocholine containing glycolipids of<jats:italic>M. fermentans</jats:italic>serves both as a major immune determinants and as a trigger of the inflammatory responses, and the findings that the fusogenicity of<jats:italic>M. fermentans</jats:italic>with host cells is markedly stimulated by lyso-ether lipids, are important steps toward understanding the molecular mechanisms of<jats:italic>M. fermentans</jats:italic>pathogenicity.</jats:p>

Cytadherence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Induces Inflammatory Responses through Autophagy and Toll-Like Receptor 4

“…Other than LPS, TLR4 also recognizes fungal mannan and glucuronoxylomannan (60), protozoan glycoinositolphospholipids (61,62), and viral proteins (63,64). Mycoplasma species also express unique glycolipids, phosphoglycolipids (65), and polysaccharides (66,67). Although further studies are needed to determine the exact ligands of M. pneumoniae for TLR4, these molecules may be potential TLR4 ligands.…”

Minimal genomes of mycoplasma-related endobacteria are plastic and contain host-derived genes for sustained life within Glomeromycota

“…However, genes involved in the biosynthesis of a Gram-positive cell wall were not found in the genomes of any of the MRE populations. In other mycoplasmas with reduced biosynthetic capabilities, it is not uncommon to find exogenous lipids incorporated into membranes (20). Similarly, heritable mutualists with reduced genomes commonly lose genes for cell envelope biosynthesis and thus are dependent on host-derived membranes (21).…”

Cardiolipin Synthetase Is Involved in Antagonistic Interaction (Reverse CAMP Phenomenon) of Mycoplasma Species with Staphylococcus aureus Beta-Hemolysis

“…We have shown previously that M. hyorhinis does not possess PLD activity (19,47), and we were unable to detect the pld gene homolog in the M. hyorhinis genome. However, we identified the two conserved domains of PLD [HKD motif, HxK(x)4D(x)6GSxN] in the M. hyorhinis cls gene encoding CLS, a characteristic of all prokaryotic CLSs (48).…”