In vivo role of capsular polysaccharide in <em>Mycoplasma mycoides</em>

Capsular polysaccharides have been confirmed to be an important virulence trait in many different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Similarly, they are proposed to be virulence traits in minimal Mycoplasma that cause disease in humans and animals. In this study, goats were infected with the caprine pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri or an engineered mutant lacking the capsular polysaccharide, galactofuranose. Goats infected with the mutant strain showed only transient fever. In contrast, five out of eight goats infected with the parental strain reached endpoint criteria after infection. This work confirms that galactofuranose is a virulence factor in Mycoplasma mycoides