'Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum', a novel small haemotropic mycoplasma from a dog

1 Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA 2 Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA Correspondence Jane E. Sykes jesykes{at}ucdavis.edu A novel small haemoplasma was detected following cytological examination of blood smears from a splenectomized dog with haemic neoplasia. The 16S rRNA and rnpB genes of the organism were partially sequenced and a phylogenetic tree constructed. The organism was most closely related to the small feline haemoplasma, ‘ Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum’ (94 % 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence identity; 75 % rnpB ) and was only distantly related to Mycoplasma haemocanis (78 % 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence identity; 65 % rnpB ). As this organism has not been cultured in vitro , the candidate species name ‘ Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum’ is proposed. Published online ahead of print on 28 June 2004 as DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.02989-0. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA and rnpB gene sequences of ‘ Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum’ are AY383241 and AY380803 , respectively. A figure showing a larger phylogenetic tree of 16S rRNA gene sequences, using Asteroleplasma anaerobium as the outgroup and including non-haemotropic mollicutes, is available as supplementary material in IJSEM Online.