title: Characterization of mycoplasma strains isolated from house musk shrews (Suncus murinus) and their infectivity in mice and rats.
abstract: Five mycoplasma strains isolated from house musk shrews (Suncus murinus) in the Central Institute for Experimental Animals were characterized and compared with three murine mycoplasma strains, Mycoplasma pulmonis m 53, M. arthritidis PG6, and M. neurolyticum Type A, and with reference strain G3-5 previously isolated from a house musk shrew. These isolates fermented glucose, but did not hydrolyze urea and arginine, passed through membrane filters of 450 nm pore size, were sensitive to digitonin, and formed minute (115 to 231 microns in diameter) colonies on agar medium. All the five unclassified house musk shrew mycoplasma strains and strain G3-5 used as a reference constituted a homogeneous group based on (i) their antigenic properties (determined using the metabolism inhibition test), (ii) their polypeptide profiles (determined using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the Western blotting assay), and (iii) their genomic properties (determined using DNA cleavage pattern analysis), but were quite distinct from the established murine mycoplasmas on the basis of these findings. In a survey of 56 house musk shrews aged 2 to 45 weeks in our colonies, mycoplasmas were isolated from the oral cavities of all animals examined. No gross or microscopic lesions were observed in the five animals from which the mycoplasma strains were isolated. In experimental infection, the mycoplasma was not infective for mice and rats. The results suggest that this group of mycoplasmas is a common inhabitant of house musk shrews.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ebukuro
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kagiyama
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harasawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D051379:Mice; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D051381:Rats; D012788:Shrews / Q000382:microbiology*