Mycoplasma genitalium

Mycoplasma genitalium
Gene map of Mycoplasma genitalium. Circularly arranged coloured bands are the genes (525 in number) in their position in the DNA. The genome has 580,070 nucleotide base pairs (580 kb).
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Division:	Firmicutes
Class:	Mollicutes
Order:	Mycoplasmatales
Family:	Mycoplasmataceae
Genus:	Mycoplasma
Species:	M. genitalium
Binomial name
Mycoplasma genitalium Tully et al., 1983

Mycoplasma genitalium is a small pathogenic bacterium that lives on the ciliated epithelial cells of the urinary and genital tracts in humans. Its existence was first reported in 1981, and was eventually identified as a new species of Mycoplasma in 1983. It can cause significant morbidity in men and women, and is a co-factor in HIV transmission. It is still controversial whether or not this bacterium is to be recognized as a sexually transmitted pathogen. Specifically, it causes urethritis in both men and women, and also cervicitis and pelvic inflammation in women. Its complete genome sequence was published in 1995 (size 0.58 Mbp, with 475 genes). It was regarded as a cellular unit with the smallest genome size (in Mbp) until 2003 when a new species of Archaea, namely Nanoarchaeum equitans, was sequenced (0.49 Mbp, with 540 genes).

The synthetic genome of M. genitalium named Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0 (after the research centre, J. Craig Venter Institute, where it was synthesised) was produced in 2008, becoming the first organism with a synthetic genome. In 2014, a protein was described called Protein M from M. genitalium.

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