This reduction of genetic information has committed M. haemofelis to a parasitic lifestyle in which it is entirely dependent upon host cells for the amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins it has lost the ability to synthesize. Consistent with its parasitic lifestyle, the M. haemofelis genome contains a significant number of genes devoted to adhesins, resistance to oxidative stress, and the production of variable surface antigens that allow it to persist in the host.[2]