science

Mycoplasma mycoides

Mycoplasma mycoides is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mycoplasma mycoides rather than just read about it. In short: Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterial species of the genus Mycoplasma in the class Mollicutes. This microorganism is a parasite that lives in ruminants.

Key takeaways

Mycoplasma mycoides belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mycoplasma mycoides to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mycoplasma mycoides from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterial species of the genus Mycoplasma in the class Mollicutes. This microorganism is a parasite that lives in ruminants. Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterial species with two subspecies: M. mycoides subsp. mycoides, which causes contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) in cattle, and M. mycoides subsp. capri, which causes contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) in goats.

Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides The subspecies "Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm)", previously named "Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony (SC) type (MmmSC)", is known as the agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), a contagious lung disease of cattle. It was first isolated in 1898 by Edmond Nocard et al. as the first bacteria from the Mycoplasma genus to be isolated at all. Formerly, M. mycoides subsp. mycoides was known as Asterococcus mycoides.

The Mycoplasma mycoides cluster Mycoplasma mycoides belongs to the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster, or Mycoplasma mycoides group, a group of closely related infectious mycoplasmas, first named by Weisburg et al. The cluster sensu stricto contains the genera Mycoplasma mycoides and Mycoplasma capricolum and comprises six species and subspecies:

M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Small Colony (MmmSC) M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Large Colony (MmmLC) M. mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc) M. capricolum subsp. capricolum (Mcc) M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae (Mccp) Mycoplasma sp. 'bovine group 7' (MBG7) The last one is disputed with respect to the question of being a separate species. In 2009, L. Manso-Silván et al. proposed to consider M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Large Colony as equal with M. mycoides subsp. capri. Furthermore, they proposed the name Mycoplasma leachii sp. nov. for Mycoplasma sp. 'bovine group 7' as a separate species.

Genome The first genome of Mycoplasma mycoides to be sequenced was that of strain PG1T, the Causative Agent of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP). It has a single circular chromosome of 1,211,703 bp and contains 985 putative genes, of which 72 are part of insertion sequences and encode transposases. This was the highest density of insertion sequences (13% of the genome size) of all sequenced bacterial genomes at the time of its publication (2004).

Minimal genome project In 2010, as part of the Minimal Genome Project, a team of the J. Craig Venter Institute synthesized a modified version (JCVI-syn1.0) of the 1,000,000 base pair M. mycoides genome and implanted it into a DNA-free bacterial shell of Mycoplasma capricolum; the resulting organism was shown to be self-replicating. In 2016, the Venter Institute used genes from the JCVI-syn1.0 to synthesize an even smaller genome they call JCVI-syn3.0, that contains 531,560 base pairs and 473 genes.

References

External links Type strain of Mycoplasma mycoides at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mycoplasma mycoides

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mycoplasma mycoides claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mycoplasma mycoides before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mycoplasma mycoides ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mycoplasma mycoides

In research: Mycoplasma mycoides appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mycoplasma mycoides in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mycoplasma mycoides is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bacteria described in 1929, Cryozoa, Mycoplasma, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mycoplasma mycoides outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mycoplasma mycoides in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mycoplasma mycoides means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mycoplasma mycoides out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mycoplasma mycoides in simple terms?

Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterial species of the genus Mycoplasma in the class Mollicutes. This microorganism is a parasite that lives in ruminants.

Why does Mycoplasma mycoides matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mycoplasma mycoides?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mycoplasma mycoides.