title: The ftsZ gene as a tool for detection of Mycoplasma fermentans.
abstract: Mycoplasma fermentans was reported as a common contaminant of cell cultures, and was shown to either induce or suppress several immunological functions. A strain of M. fermentans was recently isolated from a mouse T-lymphoma cell line, which differs from other M. fermentans strains by its growth characteristics and was designated (in the authors' records) as strain 609. Using the differential display technique (DD), a differentially expressed gene that was identified as the M. fermentans 609 ftsZ gene was isolated. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the M. fermentans 609 ftsZ gene to other ftsZ genes showed a 98% homology with Mycoplasma fermentans strain K7 and approximately 50% homology with Mycoplasma pulmonis and Mycoplasma genitalium. Comparison of the putative amino acid sequences of the FtsZ proteins showed similar homology. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to detect the presence of this ftsZ gene was established; it is a fast and convenient assay to detect infection of cells by the M. fermentans species. This work demonstrates that: (i) DD can be used as a useful technique to identify and isolate mycoplasmal genes from infected cells; and (ii) the ftsZ gene can be a useful marker to distinguish between different species of mycoplasma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ofir
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Weinstein
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007942:Leukemia, Experimental; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus; D016858:Mycoplasma fermentans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012192:Retroviridae Infections; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria