Proteomic Characterization of Mycoplasma gallisepticum Nanoforming

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I. A. Demina^*, M. V. Serebryakova, V. G. Ladygina, M. A. Rogova, I. G. Kondratov, A. N. Renteeva, and V. M. Govorun

Research Institute for Physical-Chemical Medicine, Ministry of Public Health of Russian Federation, ul. M. Pirogovskaya 1a, 119992 Moscow, Russia; fax: (495) 246-4401; E-mail: idemina@mail.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received March 24, 2010; Revision received June 2, 2010

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The goal of this work was to create a model for the long persistence of Mycoplasma gallisepticum in depleted medium and under low growth temperature followed by proteomic study of the model. Nanoforms and revertants for M. gallisepticum were obtained. Proteomic maps were produced for different stages of the formation of nanoforms and revertants. It is shown that proteins responsible for essential cellular processes of glycolysis, translation elongation, and DnaK chaperone involved in the stabilization of newly synthesized proteins are crucial for the reversion of M. gallisepticum to a vegetative form. Based on the current data, it is assumed that changes in the metabolism of M. gallisepticum during nanoforming are not post-mortal, thus M. gallisepticum does not transform to uncultivable form, but remains in a reversible dormant state during prolonged unfavorable conditions.

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KEY WORDS: Mycoplasma gallisepticum, adaptation, starvation, reversion, proteomics, 2-D electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, real-time PCR

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297910100068

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