Mycoplasma fermentans is a parasitic microorganism in the form of a bacterium that has been detected in various regions of the human body. It belongs to the class Mollicutes, specifically the family Mycoplasmataceae.
What is Mycoplasma fermentans?
Mycoplasma fermentans was first discovered in 1952 by Ruiter and Wentholt while studying a genital infection. Two years later, it was detected again by Edward, who gave the bacterium its present name in 1955. Since then, four different strains of the species have been studied in detail and characterized. Mycoplasma fermentans lives as a parasite in the human body, which acts as its sole host and thus as a food source of cholesterol, sugars and various amino acids. Since a pathogenic effect of the bacterium is still disputed, Mycoplasma fermentans is sometimes referred to as commensal or paraphage – life forms that live at the expense of their host but do not harm it in return. The primary habitat of Mycoplasma fermentans is the genital area, where it attaches itself to the surface of cells from the epithelium, a basic tissue without blood vessels. In addition, its presence has been confirmed in respiratory and urinary tracts.
Occurrence, distribution, and characteristics
The main characteristic of Mycoplasma fermentans is the absence of a cell wall. The bacterium is merely surrounded by a lipoprotein membrane and therefore cannot be stained with the classical Gram stain for visualization in light microscopy. Equally absent is the polymer capsule of sugar or amino acids that otherwise frequently appears in bacteria. It usually serves as protection against the human immune system. Mycoplasma fermentans also does not form spores, which means that no spore wall, which is often otherwise very thick, can develop for protection. The osmotic resistance of the bacterium is therefore quite low. Due to the lack of cell walls, the penicillins that are popularly used today are ineffective against Mycoplasma fermentans, because the antibiotics are designed exclusively to block the synthesis of the bacterial cell walls. The same applies to the enzyme lysozyme, which occurs in the body and plays a role in the human immune system by breaking down the cell walls of pathogenic bacteria. In contrast, so-called macrolides can be used effectively, which disrupt the protein biosynthesis of the bacterium and thus inhibit its growth. An alternative is quinolones, which attack the bacterial genome. With a size of only 0.1 to 0.6 micrometers, Mycoplasma fermentans is one of the smallest bacteria capable of independent reproduction. It has an active metabolism and is demonstrably capable of converting or fermenting sugars such as glucose or fructose, but also various amino acids by means of enzymes. However, Mycoplasma fermentans is not capable of some metabolic processes. An example of this is the lack of cholesterol biosynthesis and the resulting need for cholesterol intake from food. Mycoplasma fermentans has both RNA and DNA, but the genome is very small. It is circular in shape and is now known in its entirety. In total, there are slightly more than one million base pairs. Mycoplasma fermentans has special surface molecules for attachment to human epithelial cells. However, these are not the thread-like projections (pili) normally found in bacteria. No oxygen is required for subsequent growth. However, Mycoplasma fermentans is facultatively anaerobic, i.e. able to grow even in the presence of oxygen. A temperature of 37 degrees Celsius has been shown to be the ideal growth condition. In this respect, the bacterium is thus optimally adapted to life in humans.
Diseases and ailments
That Mycoplasma fermentans is not a symbiont but a unilateral beneficiary with humans as host organism has been shown by previous investigations. However, the extent to which the bacterium has a pathogenic, i.e. disease-causing, effect is still unclear. Several studies have already been carried out in this regard, but they did not produce any clear evidence of a link between the occurrence of Mycoplasma fermentans and certain diseases.Further investigations of this kind have so far failed to materialize, which means that the significance of this bacterium in the human body remains uncertain. Nevertheless, Mycoplasma fermentans is still detected in pathological examinations of certain diseases and consequently associated with them. In this context, the bacterium appears to serve as a kind of support for the actual pathogen. In this respect, there is often talk of a co-infection or also a coupling with another infection, so that an amplification or an acceleration of the course of the infection is caused. Mycoplasma fermentans is mainly associated with HIV infections, as autopsies have already proven the simultaneous presence of the bacterium. However, there is also a connection to certain respiratory diseases, rheumatic complaints or arthritis. Often, fatigue and muscle pain are mentioned as symptoms of a possible inflammation caused by Mycoplasma fermentans. A connection to illnesses such as Fibromyalgie or the chronic exhaustion syndrome, briefly CFS, lies thus close, is not however proven. Even in the case of inflammation in the preferred habitat, the genital area, no evidence has yet been provided as a causative agent.
