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1887

Microbiology Society logo Microbiology

Volume 158, Issue 7

Mycoplasma polysaccharide protects against complement Free

Abstract

Although they lack a cell wall, mycoplasmas do possess a glycocalyx. The interactions between the glycocalyx, mycoplasmal surface proteins and host complement were explored using the murine pathogen as a model. It was previously shown that the length of the tandem repeat region of the surface lipoprotein Vsa is associated with susceptibility to complement-mediated killing. Cells producing a long Vsa containing about 40 repeats are resistant to complement, whereas strains that produce a short Vsa of five or fewer repeats are susceptible. We show here that the length of the Vsa protein modulates the affinity of the EPS-I polysaccharide for the mycoplasma cell surface, with more EPS-I being associated with mycoplasmas producing a short Vsa protein. An examination of mutants that lack EPS-I revealed that planktonic mycoplasmas were highly susceptible to complement killing even when the Vsa protein was long, demonstrating that both EPS-I and Vsa length contribute to resistance. In contrast, the mycoplasmas were resistant to complement even in the absence of EPS-I when the cells were encased in a biofilm.

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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.058222-0
2012-07-01
2025-04-26
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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.058222-0
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Mycoplasma polysaccharide protects against complement
Microbiology 158, 1867 (2012); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.058222-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.058222-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.058222-0
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