Before I begin, please note that bacteria can possess many structures and their structural biology can be just as complex as their eukaryotic counterparts. It's become commonplace for many general biology textbooks, and even more complex textbooks (which is scary), to underscore the structural complexity of bacteria. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here are two structures common to many bacterial cells.

1. Cell wall - provides structural support to the cell and resists internal turgor pressure; composed of peptidoglycan (murein), which is itself composed of alternating subunits of N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and N-acetlymuramic acid (NAM). These "chains" of alternating subunits are cross-linked by peptide bridges. Despite what you might think, the cell wall is NOT a very good barrier, as it is more like a meshwork than an impenetrable forcefield. Some bacteria, such as those belonging to the class Mollicutes (e.g., Mycoplasma species) do not possess cell walls.


2. Flagella - these appendages are used for locomotion; composed of flagellin subunits and are powered by a flow of protons (or even sodium, as is the case in some Archaea) across the flagellar motor.


- Microbioman

Ferrets are susceptible to a wide variety of diseases and illnesses seen in humans and other animals. Mycoplasma depend on cholesterol from it's host and ferrets that are fed a height quality ferret food should be very low in cholesterol. The avian mycoplasma is a different bacteria and I don't think ferrets would be susceptible. There are over 100 recognized species of the genus Mycoplasma. Mycoplasma is a bacteria like organism and in humans is one of the causes of pneumonia

In 1982 the first mycoplasmas were isolated from healthy experimental ferrets. The growth inhibition test revealed that all the strains had similar antigenicity but were not related antigenically to any reference strains from dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, mice, raccoon dogs and a Japanese badger.

Mycoplasma is by definition restricted to vertebrate hosts. Mycoplasmas are unusual among bacteria in that most require sterols for the stability of their cytoplasmic membrane. Sterols are acquired from the environment, usually as cholesterol from the animal host

The Chicken mycoplasma is a different species - Avian mycoplasmosis can be caused by several species of Mycoplasma (class Mollicutes, order Mycoplasmatales, family Mycoplasmataceae) including Mycoplasma gallisepticum, M. synoviae, M. meleagridis and M. iowae. M. gallisepticum is the most important pathogen in poultry. This organism has been eradicated from most commercial chicken and turkey breeding flocks in the United States; M. gallisepticum infections are also known as chronic respiratory disease (CRD) of chickens, infectious sinusitis of turkeys and house finch conjunctivitis. Several strains of M. gallisepticum have been reported, including the R(poultry), P (psittacine) and house finch strains. Strains may vary greatly in their pathogenicity for different species of birds. In one study, budgerigars developed severe disease after experimental infection with the R strain of M. gallisepticum but not the house finch strain

Mycoplasma gallisepticum does not appear to be zoonotic.