Open AccessMycoplasma gallisepticum : influence of cell invasiveness on the outcome of experimental infection in chickens
Author(s) -
Much Peter,
Winner Florian,
Stipkovits László,
Rosengarten Renate,
Citti Christine
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-695x.2002.tb00622.x
Subject(s) - mycoplasma gallisepticum , biology , mycoplasma , pathogen , microbiology and biotechnology , inoculation , mycoplasmataceae , strain (injury) , virology , in vivo , host (biology) , mollicutes , immunology , genetics , anatomy
Recently we have shown that a low (R low ) and a high laboratory passage (R high ) of the poultry pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum prototype strain R differ markedly in their capability to invade non‐phagocytic eukaryotic cells. In the present study the infection traits of these two mycoplasma passages were compared in an in vivo setting. After aerosol inoculation of chickens, M. gallisepticum was re‐isolated from the inner organs of birds infected with R low , whereas no mycoplasma was recovered from the inner organs of birds infected with R high . These results indicate that the two mycoplasma populations derived from strain R differ in their capacity to cross the mucosal barrier and suggest that cell invasion may play a major role in the observed systemic spreading of M. gallisepticum in its chicken host.