Molecular Pathogenesis of Mycoplasma bovis and Mycoplasma agalactiae and its Application in Diagnosis and Control
Authors: Yogev David , Rosenbusch Ricardo , Levisohn Sharon , Rapoport Eitan 
Published: December 2021

Mycoplasma bovis and M. agalactiae are two phylogenetically related mycoplasmas which cause economically significant diseases in their respective bovine or small ruminant hosts. These organisms cause persistent asymptomatic infections that can result in severe outbreaks upon introduction of carrier animals into susceptible herds. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying mycoplasma-host interaction, variation in virulence, or of the factors enabling avoidance of the host immune system. In recent years it has become apparent that the ability of pathogenic microorganisms to rapidly alter surface antigenic structures and to fine tune their antigenicity, a phenomena called antigenic variation, is one of the most effective strategies used to escape immune destruction and to establish chronic infections. Our discovery of a novel genetic system, mediating antigenic variation in M. bovis (vsp) as well as in M. agalactiae (avg) served as a starting point for our proposal which included the following objectives: (i) Molecular and functional characterization of the variable surface lipoproteins (Vsp) system of M. bovis and comparison with the Vsp-counterpart in M. agalactiae (ii) Determination of the role of Vsp proteins in the survival of M. bovis when confronted by host defense factors, (iii) Assessment of Vsp-based genetic and antigenic typing of M. bovis and M. agalactiae for epidemiology of infection and (iv) Improvement of diagnostic tests for M. bovis and M. agalactiae based on the vsp-and vsp-analogous systems. We have carried out an extensive molecular characterization of the vsp system and unravelled the precise molecular mechanism responsible for the generation of surface antigenic variation in M. bovis. Our data clearly demonstrated that the two pathogenic mycoplasma species possess large gene families encoding variable lipoprotein antigens that apparently play an important role in immune evasion and in pathogen-host interaction during infection. Phase variable production of these antigens was found to be mediated by a novel molecular mechanism utilizing double site-specific DNA inversions via an intermediate vsp configuration. Studies in model systems indicate that phase variation of VspA is relevant in interaction between M. bovis and macrophages or monocytes, a crucial stage in pathogenesis. Using an ELISA test with captured VspA as an antigen, phase variation was shown to occur in vivo and under field conditions. Genomic rearrangements in the avg gene family of M. agalactiae were shown to occur in vivo and may well have a role in evasion of host defences and establishment of chronic infection. An epidemiological study indicated that patterns of vsp-related antigenic variation diverge rapidly in an M. bovis infected herd. Marked divergence was also found with avg-based genomic typing of M. agalactiae in chronically infected sheep. However, avg-genomic fingerprints were found to be relatively homogeneous in different animals during acute stages of an outbreak of Contagious Agalactiae, and differ between unrelated outbreaks. These data support the concept of vsp-based genomic typing but indicate the necessity for further refinement of the methodology. The molecular knowledge on these surface antigens and their encoding genes provides the basis for generating specific recombinant tools and serological methods for serodiagnosis and epidemiological purposes. Utilization of these methods in the field may allow differentiating acutely infected herds from chronic herds and disease-free herds. In addition the highly immunogenic nature of these lipoproteins may facilitate the design of protective vaccine against mycoplasma infections.