Summary
In phenotype the mycoplasmas are very different from ordinary bacteria. However, genotypically (i.e., phylogenetically) they are not. On the basis of ribosomal RNA homologies the mycoplasmas belong with the clostridia, and indeed havespecific clostridial relatives. Mycoplasmas are, however, unlike almost all other bacteria in the evolutionary characteristics of their ribosomal RNAs. These RNAs contain relatively few of the highly conserved oligonucleotide sequences characteristic of normal eubacterial ribosomal RNAs. This is interpreted to be a reflection of an elevated mutation rate in mycoplasma lines of descent. A general consequence of this would be that the variation associated with a mycoplasma population is augmented both in number and kind, which in turn would lead to an unusual evolutionary course, one unique in all respects. Mycoplasmas, then, are actually tachytelic bacteria. The unusual evolutionary characteristics of their ribosomal RNAs are the imprints of their rapid evolution.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brooks BW, Murray RGE, Johnson JL, Stackebrandt E, Woese CR, Fox GE (1980) Red-pigmented micrococci: a basis for taxonomy. Int J Syst Bacteriol 30:627–646
Ewald FW (1981) The genusErysipelothrix. In: Starr MP, Stolp H, Truper HG, Balows A, Schelgel HG (eds) The prokaryotes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 1688–1700.
Fowler VJ, Ludwig W, Stackebrandt E (1984) Ribosomal ribonucleic acid cataloging in bacterial systematics: the phylogeny ofactinomadura. In: Goodfellow M, Minnikin DE (eds) The use of chemotaxonomic methods for bacteria. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida (in press).
Fox GE, Peckman KR, Woese CR (1977) Comparative cataloging of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid: molecular approach to procaryotic systematics. Int J Syst Bacteriol 27:44–57
Fox GE, Stackebrandt E, Hespell RB, Gibson J, Maniloff J, Dyer TA, Wolfe RS, Balch WE, Tanner R, Magrum LJ, Zablen LB, Blakemore R, Gupta R, Bonen L, Lewis BJ, Stahl DL, Luehrsen KR, Chen KN, Woese CR (1980) The phylogeny of prokaryotes. Science 209:457–463
Ghosh A, Das J, Maniloff J (1977) Lack of repair of ultraviolet light damage inMycoplasma gallisepticum. J Mol Biol 116:337–344
Gibson J, Ludwig W, Stackebrandt E, Woese CR (1985) The phylogeny of the green photosynthetic bacteria. Syst Appl Microbiol (in press)
Gupta R, Broccoli A, Woese CR (1983) Sequence of the 16S ribosomal RNA fromHalobacterium volcanii, an archaebacterium. Science 221:656–659
Iwami M, Muto A, Yamao F, Osawa S (1984) Nucleotide sequence of the rrnB 16S ribosomal RNA gene fromMycoplasma capricolum. Mol Gen Genet 196:317–322
Ludwig W, Schleifer K, Stackebrandt E (1984) 16S rRNA analysis ofListeria monocytogenes andBrochothrix thermosphacta. FEMS Microbiol Lett (in press)
Maniloff J, Morowitz HJ (1972) Cell biology of the mycoplasmas. Bacteriol Rev 36:263–290
Mayr E (1942) Systematics and the origin of species. Columbia University Press, New York
Nomura M, Mizushima S, Ozaki M, Traub P, Lowry CV (1969) Structure and function of ribosomes and their molecular components. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 34:49–61
Oren A, Paster BJ, Woese CR (1984) Haloanaerobiaceae: a new family of moderately halophilic, obligatory anaerobic bacteria. Syst Appl Microbiol 5:71–80
Paster BJ, Stackebrandt E, Hespell RB, Hahn CM, Woese CR (1984) The phylogeny of the spirochetes. Syst Appl Microbiol 5:337–351
Paster BJ, Ludwig W, Weisburg WG, Stackebrandt E, Hespell RB, Hahn CM, Reichenbach H, Stetter KO, Woese CR (1985) A phylogenetic grouping of the bacteroides, cytophagas and certain flavobacteria. Syst Appl Microbiol (in press)
Razin S (1978) The mycoplasmas. Microbiol Rev 42:414–470
Rogers MJ, Simmons J, Walker RT, Weisburg WG, Woese CR, Tanner RS, Robinson IM, Stahl DA, Olsen G, Leach RH, Maniloff J (1985) Construction of the mycoplasma evolutionary tree from 5S sequence data. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82:1160–1164
Simpson GG (1944) Tempo and mode in evolution. Columbia University Press, New York
Stackebrandt E, Woese CR (1981) The evolution of prokaryotes. In: Carlile MJ, Collins JF, Moseley BEB (es) Molecular and cellular aspects of microbial evolution. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, pp 1–31 (Society for General Microbiology symposium 32).
Stackebrandt E, Seewaldt E, Ludwig W, Schleifer K-H, Huser BA (1982) The phylogenetic position ofMethanothrix soehngenii elucidated by a modified technique of sequencing oligonucleotides from 16S rRNA. Zentralbl Bakteriol Hyg I [C] 3:90–100
Stackebrandt E, Fowler VJ, Woese CR (1983) A phylogenetic analysis of lactobacilli,Pediococcus pentosaceus andLeuconostoc mesenteroides. Syst Appl Microbiol 4:326–337
Stackebrandt E, Ludwig W, Schubert W, Klink F, Schlesner H, Roggentin T, Hirsch P (1984) Molecular genetic evidence for early evolutionary origin of budding peptidoglycan-less eubacteria. Nature 307:735–737
Uchida T, Bonen L, Schaup HW, Lewis BJ, Zablen LB, Woese CR (1974) The use of ribonuclease U2 in RNA sequence determination. Some corrections in the catalog of oligomers produced by ribonuclease T1 digestion ofEscherichia coli 16S ribosomal RNA. J Mol Evol 3:63–77
Woese CR, Sogin M, Stahl DA, Lewis BJ, Bonen L (1976) A comparison of the 16S ribosomal RNAs from mesophilic and thermophilic bacilli: some modifications in the Sanger method for RNA sequencing. J Mol Evol 7:197–213
Woese CR, Maniloff J, Zablen LB (1980) Phylogenetic analysis of the mycoplasmas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:494–498
Woese CR, Gutell RR, Gupta R, Noller HF (1983) Detailed analysis of the higher-order structure of 16S-like ribosomal ribonucleic acids. Microbiol Rev 47:621–669
Woese CR, Stackebrandt E, Weisburg WG, Paster BJ, Madigan MT, Fowler VJ, Hahn CM, Blanz P, Gupta R, Nealson KH, Fox GE (1984) The phylogeny of purple bacteria: the alpha subdivision. Syst Appl Microbiol 5:315–326
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Woese, C.R., Stackebrandt, E. & Ludwig, W. What are mycoplasmas: The relationship of tempo and mode in bacterial evolution. J Mol Evol 21, 305–316 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02115648
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02115648