Sialidase and N-acetylneuraminate catabolism in nutrition of Mycoplasma alligatoris Michaels, Dina L. and Moneypenny, Craig G. and Shama, Suzanne M. and Leibowitz, Jeffrey A. and May, Meghan A. and Glass, John I. and Brown, Daniel R.,, 165, 662-667 (2019), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000739, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 1350-0872, abstract= The contribution of N-acetylneuraminate scavenging to the nutrition of Mycoplasma alligatoris was examined. The wild-type grew substantially faster (P<0.01) than the mutant strains that were unable either to liberate (extracellular NanI− mutants) or to catabolize (NanA− mutants) N-acetylneuraminate from glycoconjugates in minimal SP-4 medium supplemented only with serum, but the growth of sialidase-negative mutants could not be restored to wild-type rate simply by adding unconjugated sialic acid to the culture medium. In 1 : 1 growth competition assays the wild-type was recovered in >99-fold excess of a sialidase-negative mutant after co-culture on pulmonary fibroblasts in serum-free RPMI 1640 medium, even with supplemental glucose. The advantage of nutrient scavenging via this mechanism in a complex glycan-rich environment may help to balance the expected selective disadvantage conferred by the pathogenic effects of mycoplasmal sialidase in an infected host., language=, type=