Hemin activation abrogates Mycoplasma hyorhinis replication in chronically infected prostate cancer cells via heme oxygenase-1 induction.

Mycoplasma hyorhinis (M. hyorhinis) lacks a cell wall and resists multiple antibiotics. We describe here the striking > 90% inhibitory effect of hemin, a natural inducer of the cytoprotective enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), on M.

Ecological and evolutionary drivers of haemoplasma infection and bacterial genotype sharing in a Neotropical bat community.

Most emerging pathogens can infect multiple species, underlining the importance of understanding the ecological and evolutionary factors that allow some hosts to harbour greater infection prevalence and share pathogens with other species. However, our understanding of pathogen jumps is based primarily around viruses, despite bacteria accounting for the greatest proportion of zoonoses. Because bacterial pathogens in bats (order Chiroptera) can have conservation and human health consequences, studies that examine the ecological and evolutionary drivers of bacterial prevalence and barriers to pathogen sharing are crucially needed.

sp. nov., isolated from oral cavity of northern elephant seal ().

Two independent strains of a species (ES3154-GLU and ES2714_GLU) were isolated from the oral cavity of northern elephant seals () that were admitted to The Marine Mammal Centre facilities in California, USA. The strains were isolated from oral swabs by cultivation in PPLO broth supplemented with serum, penicillin and colistin in anaerobic conditions. The strains were Gram-negative, pleomorphic, indole-, oxidase- and catalase-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile rods/coccobacilli in short chains.

sp. nov., isolated from European domestic geese () with reproductive pathology.

In 1983, sp. strain 1220 was isolated in Hungary from the phallus lymph of a gander with phallus inflammation. Between 1983 and 2017, sp.

Acholeplasma equirhinis sp. nov. isolated from respiratory tract of horse (Equus caballus) and Mycoplasma procyoni sp. nov. isolated from oral cavity of raccoon (Procyon lotor).

We describe two novel species of Acholeplasma sp. strain N93 and Mycoplasma sp. strain LR5794 which were isolated from the nasopharynx of a horse from the United Kingdom and from the oral cavity of a North American raccoon from Canada, respectively.

sp. nov. isolated from northern elephant seals () and sp. nov. isolated from California sea lions ().

Novel ureaplasma strains have been isolated from the genital tract of both sexes of northern elephant seals (; six strains) and California sea lions (; five strains) stranded along the Central California coast, USA. These strains were phenotypically and genetically characterized and compared to other seven known species. All novel ureaplasma strains hydrolysed urea, but did not metabolize arginine, and all were isolated and propagated using PPLO medium supplemented with urea under aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic atmospheric conditions at +35-37 °C.

A new recombinant rabies virus expressing a green fluorescent protein: A novel and fast approach to quantify virus neutralizing antibodies.

The Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (RFFIT) is a standard assay used to detect and assess the titers of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in blood sera. To simplify the multistep RFFIT procedure by eliminating the immunostaining step, we generated a new recombinant RV expressing a green fluorescent protein (rRV-GFP) and assess its suitability for quantifying RVNA. We rescued the rRV-GFP virus from plasmid DNA carrying a full-length genome of the CVS-N2c strain of RV in which the eGFP gene was inserted between the glycoprotein and RNA-polymerase genes.

Mycoplasma enhydrae sp. nov. isolated from southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis).

Five Mycoplasma strains have been isolated from the oropharynx of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) from the Central California Coast, USA. These strains were phenotypically and genetically characterized and compared to other established Mycoplasma species. All five strains hydrolysed arginine but not urea, but did not produce acid from glucose, and all were isolated and propagated under anaerobic and aerobic atmospheric conditions at +35-37 ˚C using either SP4 or PPLO medium supplemented with arginine.

Livestock abundance predicts vampire bat demography, immune profiles and bacterial infection risk.

Human activities create novel food resources that can alter wildlife-pathogen interactions. If resources amplify or dampen, pathogen transmission probably depends on both host ecology and pathogen biology, but studies that measure responses to provisioning across both scales are rare. We tested these relationships with a 4-year study of 369 common vampire bats across 10 sites in Peru and Belize that differ in the abundance of livestock, an important anthropogenic food source.

Neisseria zalophi sp. nov., isolated from oral cavity of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus).

Three independent strains of Neisseria sp. were isolated from the oral cavity of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) that were admitted to The Marine Mammal Center facilities in California, USA. The strains were isolated from oral swabs by cultivation on Trypticase Soy agar with 5% sheep blood under aerobic conditions.

Prevalence, Genotype Richness, and Coinfection Patterns of Hemotropic Mycoplasmas in Raccoons (Procyon lotor) on Environmentally Protected and Urbanized Barrier Islands.

Raccoons () are successful urban adapters and hosts to a number of zoonotic and nonzoonotic pathogens, yet little is known about their hemoplasma infections and how prevalence varies across habitat types. This study identifies hemotropic species infection in raccoons from urban and undisturbed habitats and compares hemoplasma infection in sympatric urban cats () from the same geographic region. We collected blood from raccoons ( = 95) on an urban coastal island ( = 37) and an undisturbed coastal island ( = 58) and from sympatric urban cats ( = 39) in Georgia, USA.

Mycoplasma Clearance and Risk Analysis in a Model Bioprocess.

Mycoplasmas are a type of bacteria that lack cell walls and are occasional cell culture contaminants. In a biotechnology setting, because they can pass through 0.2 μm filters, mycoplasmas could pose a potential patient safety hazard if undetected contaminants from the production culture were not completely removed by downstream biotechnology manufacturing.

Development of a microarray-based assay for rapid monitoring of genetic variants of West Nile virus circulating in the United States.

West Nile virus (WNV) has become endemic in the Western Hemisphere since its first introduction in the United States in 1999. An important factor associated with annual reoccurrence of WNV outbreaks in the U.S.

Environmental surveillance of viruses by tangential flow filtration and metagenomic reconstruction.

An approach is proposed for environmental surveillance of poliovirus by concentrating sewage samples with tangential flow filtration (TFF) followed by deep sequencing of viral RNA. Subsequent to testing the method with samples from Finland, samples from Pakistan, a country endemic for poliovirus, were investigated. Genomic sequencing was either performed directly, for unbiased identification of viruses regardless of their ability to grow in cell cultures, or after virus enrichment by cell culture or immunoprecipitation.

Use of tangential flow filtration for improving detection of viral adventitious agents in cell substrates.

In this study, we assessed the feasibility of tangential flow filtration (TFF) for primary concentration of viral adventitious agents (AAs) from large volumes of cell substrate-derived samples, such as cell-free Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) culture supernatants (500 mL) and CHO cell lysates (50 mL), prior to virus detection in them by nucleic acid-based methods (i.e., qPCR and massively parallel sequencing (MPS).

Genome Sequence of Mycoplasma hyorhinis Strain DBS 1050.

Mycoplasma hyorhinis is known as one of the most prevalent contaminants of mammalian cell and tissue cultures worldwide. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of the fastidious M. hyorhinis strain DBS 1050.

Collaborative study report: evaluation of the ATCC experimental mycoplasma reference strains panel prepared for comparison of NAT-based and conventional mycoplasma detection methods.

The main goal of this collaborative study was to evaluate the experimental panel of cryopreserved mycoplasma reference strains recently prepared by the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC(®)) in order to assess the viability and dispersion of cells in the mycoplasma stocks by measuring the ratio between the number of genomic copies (GC) and the number of colony forming units (CFU) in the reference preparations. The employment of microbial reference cultures with low GC/CFU ratios is critical for unbiased and reliable comparison of mycoplasma testing methods based on different methodological approaches, i.e.

Enhanced mid-infrared chemical imaging (IRCI) detection of DNA microarrays.

We report on the optimization of a recently proposed mid-infrared chemical imaging (IRCI) detection method for the analysis of DNA microarrays. The improved protocol allowed for a ten-fold reduction in the time needed to generate a mosaic image of an entire microarray and the production of IR images with high contrast that would facilitate data analysis and interpretation. Advantages of using this protocol were evaluated by applying it to the analysis of four virulence genes in the genomes of 19 strains of the food bacterial pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica.

Application of a full-genome microarray-based assay for the study of genetic variability of West Nile virus.

Viral adaptation through fixation of spontaneous mutations is an important factor potentially associated with reoccurrence of West Nile virus (WNV) outbreaks in the New World. The emergence of new genetic variants of WNV represents an important public health issue because it may affect the sensitivity of WNV screening and diagnostic assays, as well as the development and efficacy of WNV vaccines and anti-viral drugs. A microarray assay was developed and optimized to enable simple monitoring of WNV genetic variability and rapid detection of any nucleotide mutations within the entire viral genome.

Eosinophilic Fasciitis associated with Mycoplasma arginini infection.

Eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) with generalized sclerodermiform skin lesions developed over a 19-month period in a previously healthy 23-year-old man. Although we confirmed EF by skin histology and laboratory tests, the recurrent fevers and the clinical observation of sclerotic prepuce with urethritis indicated further bacteriological analysis by conventional microbiological and DNA-based tests. Urethra cultures were positive for an arginine-hydrolyzing mycoplasma and Ureaplasma urealyticum.

RNA polymerase beta subunit (rpoB) gene and the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic transcribed spacer region (ITS) as complementary molecular markers in addition to the 16S rRNA gene for phylogenetic analysis and identification of the species of the family Mycoplasmataceae.

Conventional classification of the species in the family Mycoplasmataceae is mainly based on phenotypic criteria, which are complicated, can be difficult to measure, and have the potential to be hampered by phenotypic deviations among the isolates. The number of biochemical reactions suitable for phenotypic characterization of the Mycoplasmataceae is also very limited and therefore the strategy for the final identification of the Mycoplasmataceae species is based on comparative serological results. However, serological testing of the Mycoplasmataceae species requires a performance panel of hyperimmune sera which contains anti-serum to each known species of the family, a high level of technical expertise, and can only be properly performed by mycoplasma-reference laboratories.

Lactobacillus brantae sp. nov., isolated from faeces of Canada geese (Branta canadensis).

Three strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from the faeces of apparently healthy wild Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in 2010 by cultivating faecal LAB on Rogosa SL agar under aerobic conditions. These three isolates were found to share 99.9 % gene sequence similarity of their 16S rRNA, their 16S-23S intergenic transcribed spacer region (ITS), partial 23S rRNA, rpoB, rpoC, rpoA and pheS gene sequences.

Mycoplasma testing of cell substrates and biologics: Review of alternative non-microbiological techniques.

Mycoplasmas, particularly species of the genera Mycoplasma and Acholeplasma, are known to be occasional microbial contaminants of cell cultures that produce biologics. This presents a serious concern regarding the risk of mycoplasma contamination for research laboratories and commercial facilities developing and manufacturing cell-derived biological and biopharmaceutical products for therapeutic use. Potential undetected contamination of these products or process intermediates with mycoplasmas represents a potential safety risk for patients and a business risk for producers of biopharmaceuticals.

Novel hemotrophic mycoplasma identified in naturally infected California sea lions (Zalophus californianus).

The hemoplasmas are the trivial name for a group of erythrocyte-parasitizing, non-cultivable in vitro bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma that have been described in several mammalian hosts worldwide. This study is the first report of hemoplasmas in marine mammals. EDTA anticoagulated whole blood samples from 137 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and 20 northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) admitted to the Marine Mammal Center (Sausalito, CA; www.