Mycobacterium ulcerans

Mycobacterium ulcerans are rod-shaped bacteria.{{sfn|Magee|Ward|2015|pp=28–29}} They appear purple ("Gram positive") under Gram stain and bright red ("acid fast") under Ziehl–Neelsen stain.{{sfn|Magee|Ward|2015|pp=28–29}} On laboratory media, M. ulcerans grow slowly, forming small transparent colonies after four weeks.{{sfn|Magee|Ward|2015|pp=28–29}} As colonies age, they develop irregular outlines and a rough, yellow surface.{{sfn|Magee|Ward|2015|pp=28–29}} The bacteria was discovered by Australian scientists Jean Tolhurst and Glen Buckle in the late 1940s.

Mycobacterium ulcerans is a species of mycobacteria within the phylum Actinomycetota. Within the genus Mycobacterium, M. ulcerans is classified as both a "non-tuberculous mycobacterium" and a "slow-growing mycobacterium".{{sfn|Bittner|Preheim|2016|pp=5–6}}

{{cladogram|

{{clade

|label1=Mycobacterium

|1={{clade

|1=Rapidly-growing mycobacteria

|2={{clade

|1=Mycobacterium leprae (cause of leprosy)

|2={{clade

|1=Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (cause of tuberculosis)

|2={{clade

|1=Mycobacterium marinum

|2=Mycobacterium ulcerans

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

|caption=A cladogram showing the relationships among the mycobacteria that cause disease in humans.{{sfn|Tortoli|2014|p=739}}}}

M. ulcerans likely evolved from the closely related aquatic pathogen Mycobacterium marinum around one million years ago.{{sfn|Röltgen|Pluschke|2019|pp=4–5}} The two species are genetically very similar, and have identical 16S ribosomal RNA genes.{{sfn|Magee|Ward|2015|pp=28-29}} However relative to M. marinum, M. ulcerans has undergone substantial genome reduction, shedding over a thousand kilobases of genetic content including nearly 1300 genes (23% of the total M. marinum genes) and sustaining the inactivation of an additional 700 genes.{{sfn|Demangel|Stinear|Cole|2009|pp=52, 54}} Some of these genes were inactivated by the proliferation of two mobile genetic elements, called "IS2404" (213 copies) and "IS2606" (91 copies), neither of which are present in M. marinum.{{sfn|Demangel|Stinear|Cole|2009|pp=52, 54}} Additionally, M. ulcerans has acquired a 174 kilobase plasmid, termed "pMUM001", which is involved in the production of the toxin mycolactone.{{sfn|Demangel|Stinear|Cole|2009|pp=52, 54}} Other closely related mycobacteria produce mycolactone and infect various aquatic animals; these are sometimes described as distinct species (M. pseudoshottsii, M. liflandii, M. shinshuense and sometimes M. marinum) and sometimes as different lineages of M. ulcerans. Regardless, all mycolactone-producing mycobacteria share a common ancestor distinct from non-mycolactone-producing M. marinum.{{sfn|Vandelannoote|Eddyani|Buultjens|Stinear|2019|pp=108–109}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal|vauthors=Bittner MJ, Preheim LC |date=2016 |title=Other slow-growing nontuberculous mycobacteria |journal=Microbiology Spectrum |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=TNM17–0012–2016 |doi=10.1128/microbiolspec.TNMI7-0012-2016|pmid=27837745 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|vauthors=Demangel C, Stinear TP, Cole ST |date=2009 |title=Buruli ulcer: reductive evolution enhances pathogeneicity of Mycobacterium ulcerans |journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=50–60 |doi=10.1038/nrmicro2077|pmid=19079352 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite book|vauthors=Magee JG, Ward AC |chapter=Mycobacterium |title=Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria |date=September 2015 |pages=1–84 |publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Bergey's Manual Trust |doi=10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00029 |isbn=9781118960608 |editor=Whitman WB}}
• {{cite book|vauthors=Röltgen K, Pluschke G |chapter=Buruli Ulcer: History and Disease Burden |title=Buruli Ulcer: Mycobacterium Ulcerans Disease |location=Cham |veditors=Röltgen K, Pluschke G |date=2019 |pages=1–41 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-11114-4_1 |pmid=32091710|isbn=978-3-030-11113-7 |s2cid=156014199 }}
• {{cite journal|vauthors=Tortoli E |title=Microbiological features and clinical relevance of new species of the genus Mycobacterium |date=2014 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=727–752 |journal=Clinical Microbiology Reviews |doi=10.1128/CMR.00035-14|pmid=25278573 |pmc=4187642 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite book|vauthors=Vandelannoote K, Eddyani M, Buultjens A, Stinear TP |chapter=Population Genomics and Molecular Epidemiology of Mycobacterium ulcerans |title=Buruli Ulcer: Mycobacterium Ulcerans Disease |location=Cham |veditors=Röltgen K, Pluschke G |date=2019 |pages=107–115 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-11114-4_6 |pmid=32091703 |isbn=978-3-030-11113-7 |s2cid=155720780 }}
• Willis, Rupert Allan (1967). "Jean Christa Tolhurst. 19 December 1911—20 November 1966". The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 94 (2): 493–495. doi:10.1002/path.1700940240. ISSN 0368-3494.

{{Commons category}}

• {{Cite web |title=Mycobacterium ulcerans |work=NCBI Taxonomy Browser |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=1809 |id=1809}}

{{Gram-positive Actinomycetota diseases}}

{{Mycobacteria}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q141154}}

ulcerans

Category:Bacteria described in 1950