Catania Salvatore, Bottinelli Marco, Fincato Alice, Tondo Annalucia, Matucci Andrea, Nai Giorgia, Righetti Verdiana, Abbate Francesco, Ramírez Ana S, Gobbo Federica, Merenda Marianna
Unità Micoplasmi, WOAH Reference Laboratory for Avian Mycoplasmosis (M. Gallisepticum, M. Synoviae), Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, 37060, Buttapietra, (VR), Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università di Messina, 98168, Messina, ME, Italy.
Biofilm. 2024 Mar 6;7:100190. doi: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2024.100190. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Mycoplasmas are known as the minimalist microorganisms in the microbes' world. Their minimalist nature makes them highly sensitive to the environmental conditions and limits their ability to survive for extended periods outside their animal host. Nevertheless, there are documented instances of mycoplasma transmission over significant distances and this phenomenon may be linked to relatively unexplored abilities of mycoplasmas, such as their capacity to synthesize biofilm-the predominant mode of bacterial growth in nature. The authors decided to establish a method aimed at inducing the clustering of mycoplasma planktonic cells within a biofilm and subsequently assess the capacity of certain avian mycoplasmas to synthesize a biofilm. A total of 299 avian mycoplasma isolates were included in the study, encompassing both pathogenic (, , , ) and non-pathogenic species (, , and . The authors successfully demonstrated the feasibility of inducing avian mycoplasmas to synthetize a biofilm, which can be visually quantified. The only species that did not produce any biofilm was . In general, the pathogenic mycoplasmas produced greater quantities of biofilm compared to the non-pathogenic ones. Furthermore, it was observed that the ability to produce biofilm appeared to vary, both qualitatively and quantitatively, not only among different species but also among isolates of a single species. Future studies will be necessary to determine whether biofilm production plays a pivotal epidemiological role for the pathogenic avian mycoplasmas.
支原体被认为是微生物世界中极简主义的微生物。它们的极简主义特性使它们对环境条件高度敏感,并限制了它们在动物宿主之外长时间存活的能力。然而,有记录表明支原体能够远距离传播,这种现象可能与支原体相对未被探索的能力有关,比如它们合成生物膜的能力——生物膜是自然界中细菌生长的主要模式。作者决定建立一种方法,旨在诱导支原体浮游细胞在生物膜内聚集,随后评估某些禽支原体合成生物膜的能力。该研究共纳入了299株禽支原体分离株,包括致病性(、、、)和非致病性(、、和)物种。作者成功证明了诱导禽支原体合成生物膜的可行性,且这种生物膜可以进行可视化定量。唯一不产生任何生物膜的物种是。一般来说,致病性支原体比非致病性支原体产生的生物膜量更多。此外,还观察到,不仅不同物种之间,而且同一物种的不同分离株之间,产生生物膜的能力在质量和数量上似乎都有所不同。未来有必要开展研究,以确定生物膜的产生是否对致病性禽支原体起着关键的流行病学作用。