Analysis of the Mycoplasma bovis lactate dehydrogenase reveals typical enzymatic activity despite the presence of an atypical catalytic site motif.

The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) of Mycoplasma genitalium has been predicted to also act as a malate dehydrogenase (MDH), but there has been no experimental validation of this hypothesized dual function for any mollicute. Our analysis of the metabolite profile of Mycoplasma bovis using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) detected malate, suggesting that there may be MDH activity in M. bovis.