Mycoplasma mycoides is a bacterial species of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma refers to a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall. Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. They can be parasitic or saprotrophic. Several species are pathogenic in humans,...

 in the class Mollicutes

Mollicutes

The Mollicutes are a class of bacteria distinguished by the absence of a cell wall. The word "Mollicutes" is derived from the Latin mollis , and cutis . They are parasites of various animals and plants, living on or in the host's cells. Individuals are very small, typically only 0.2–0.3 μm in size...

.
This microorganism

Microorganism

A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...

 is a parasite that lives in ruminant

Ruminant

A ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first compartment of the stomach, principally through bacterial actions, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again...

s (cattle and goats), causing lung disease.

Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony (SC) type

The subspecies "Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony (SC) type" (MmmSC) is known as the agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia , is a contagious bacterial disease that afflicts the lungs of cattle, buffalo, zebu, and yaks....

 (CBPP), a contagious lung disease of large and small ruminants. It was first isolated in 1898 by Edmond Nocard

Edmond Nocard

Edmond Isidore Etienne Nocard , was a French veterinarian and microbiologist, born in Provins ....

 and others and the first isolated mycoplasma at all.

Formerly M. mycoides subsp. mycoides was known as Asterococcus mycoides.

The Mycoplasma mycoides cluster

Mycoplasma mycoides is part of the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster, a group of closely related infectious mycoplasmas, first named by Weisburg et al.

The cluster sensu stricto contains the genera Mycoplasma mycoides and Mycoplasma capricolum and comprises six species and subspecies:

• M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Small Colony (MmmSC)
• M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Large Colony (MmmLC)
• M. mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc)
• M. capricolum subsp. capricolum (Mcc)
• M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae(Mccp)
• Mycoplasma sp. 'bovine group 7' (MBG7)

The last one is disputed with respect to the question of being a separate species.

In 2009 L. Manso-Silván et al. proposed to consider M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Large Colony as equal with M. mycoides subsp. capri. Furthermore they proposed the name Mycoplasma leachii sp. nov. for Mycoplasma sp. 'bovine group 7' as a separate species.

Minimal genome project

In 2010, as part of the Minimal Genome Project, a team of the J. Craig Venter Institute

J. Craig Venter Institute

The J. Craig Venter Institute is a non-profit genomics research institute founded by J. Craig Venter, Ph.D. in October 2006. The Institute was the result of consolidating four organizations: the Center for the Advancement of Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research, the Institute for...

 synthesized a modified version of the 1,000,000 base pair M. mycoides genome and implanted it into a DNA-free bacterial shell of Mycoplasma capricolum

Mycoplasma capricolum

Mycoplasma capricolum is a species of Mycoplasma bacteria. It is primarily a pathogen of goats, but has also been found in sheep and cows.-External links:* at MicrobeWiki...

; the resulting organism was shown to be self-replicating.