BioProject

Mycoplasma genitalium is the causative agent of non-gonococcal, chlamydia-negative urethritis in men and has been linked to reproductive tract disease syndromes in women. More...

Mycoplasma genitalium is the causative agent of non-gonococcal, chlamydia-negative urethritis in men and has been linked to reproductive tract disease syndromes in women. As with other mycoplasmas, M. genitalium lacks many regulatory genes because of its streamlined genome and total dependence on a parasitic existence. Therefore, it is important to understand how gene regulation occurs in M. genitalium, particularly in response to environmental signals likely to be encountered in vivo. In this study, we developed an oligonucleotide-based microarray to investigate transcriptional changes in M. genitalium following osmotic shock. Using a physiologically relevant osmolarity condition (0.3 M sodium chloride), we identified 39 up-regulated and 72 down-regulated genes. Of the up-regulated genes, 21 were of unknown function and 15 encoded membrane-associated proteins. The majority of down-regulated genes encoded enzymes involved in energy metabolism and components of the protein translation process. These data provide insight into the in vivo response of M. genitalium to hyperosmolarity conditions and identify candidate genes that may contribute to mycoplasma survival in the urogenital tract. Overall design: To examine the effects of hyperosmolarity on M. genitalium transcription, four 50 ml cultures of strain G37 in 75 cm2 tissue culture flasks (Corning) were grown to exponential phase, as determined by medium colour change and colony density. Then, NaCl was added to three flasks to achieve final concentrations of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 M. Parallel cultures of M. genitalium in the absence of NaCl served as controls. All cultures were incubated for 1 h at 37℃ prior to RNA extraction. Experiments were repeated six times, which produced six independent RNA sample pairs from NaCl-treated cultures and control cultures for each NaCl condition. Dye swap was performed on three of six RNA pairs to minimize effects caused by biased labelling efficiencies. Less...