General Information: This organism is the obligate endosymbiont for the tsetse fly Glossina brevipalpis, Glossina tachinoides, Glossina palpalis palpalis, and Glossina austeni. The tsetse fly is a vector for African trypanosomes, and is the main transmitter of deadly diseases in animals and humans in Africa. The fly feeds on a restricted diet, exclusively consisting of vertebrate blood, and lacks certain metabolic compounds needed for survival and reproduction. To complement this lack in nutrients, the tsetse fly relies mainly on the intracellular bacterial symbiont, Wigglesworthia glossinidia for its viability and fecundity.
- Sequence; - BLASTN hit (Low score = Light, High score = Dark) - hypothetical protein; - cds: hover for description
General Information: Mycoplasma mobile Strain 163K (ATCC 43663) is the only known strain of the species. It is not pathogenic for humans or animals. However, this organism was originally isolated (1984) from the gills of a fresh-water fish, the tench. It is the first mycoplasmal isolate that colonizes an aquatic organism. The unusual habitat explains lower temperature growth optimum of 20 degrees Celsius. M. mobile can glide at speeds of up to 7 microns/sec, much faster that any other known gliding mycoplasmas. This genus currently comprises more than 120 obligate parasitic species found in a wide spectrum of hosts, including humans, animals, insects and plants. The primary habitats of human and animal mycoplasmas are mucous membranes of the respiratory and urogenital tracts, eyes, mammary glands and the joints. Infection that proceeds through attachment of the bacteria to the host cell via specialized surface proteins, adhesins, and subsequent invasion, results in prolonged intracellular persistence that may cause lethality. Once detected in association with their eukaryotic host tissue, most mycoplasmas can be cultivated in the absence of a host if their extremely fastidious growth requirements are met.