Comparison of glycoproteins from ten human Mycoplasma species.

Multiple bands of glycoprotein, rare in procaryotes, were detected in ten human Mycoplasma species by staining with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reagent after sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A major contaminant formed in Hayflick medium (H medium), corresponding to an apparent molecular weight of about 80 kD, was eliminated by using the organisms grown in PPLO broth supplemented with PPLO serum fraction (P medium), except that M. genitalium and M. pneumoniae were grown in H medium as monolayers on the glass surface. The comparison of glycoproteins among ten human Mycoplasma species indicated that their profiles were shown to be species-specific. However, those of M. buccale and M. faucium were very similar, and M. pneumoniae and M. genitalium seemed to be related.     

Interactions between glycolytic enzymes of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

With only 688 protein-coding genes, Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the smallest self-replicating organisms. These bacteria use glycolysis as the major pathway for ATP production by substrate-level phosphorylation, suggesting that this pathway must be optimized to high efficiency. In this study, we have investigated the interactions between glycolytic enzymes using the bacterial adenylate cyclase-based two-hybrid system. We demonstrate that most of the glycolytic enzymes perform self-interactions, suggesting that they form dimers or other oligomeric forms. In addition, enolase was identified as the central glycolytic enzyme of M. pneumoniae due to its ability to directly interact with all other glycolytic enzymes. Our results support the idea of the formation of a glycolytic complex in M. pneumoniae and we suggest that the formation of this complex might ensure higher fluxes through the glycolytic pathway than would be possible with isolated non-interacting enzymes.     

Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Mycoplasma genitalium: a comparison of two closely related bacterial species

The rapid progress in sequencing large quantities of DNA will provide an increasing number of complete genome sequences of closely related bacterial species as well as of pairs of isolates from the same species with different features, such as a pathogenic and an apathogenic representative. This opens the way to apply subtractive comparative analysis as a tool to select from the large pool of all bacterial genes a relatively small set of genes that can be correlated with the expression of a certain phenotype. These selected genes can then be the target for further functional analyses.     

Physiological and Serological Comparisons Among Strains of Mycoplasma granularum and Mycoplasma laidlawii

Mycoplasma granularum strains grew on a medium devoid of animal serum or of serum fractions containing sterols; all strains possessed properties, including carotenoid biosynthesis, similar to those described for M. laidlawii. Some common antigenic components were noted among M. granularum and M. laidlawii strains by indirect fluorescent-antibody tests. The growth of M. granularum strains was slightly inhibited by antiserum to M. laidlawii PG-8, and the electrophoretic patterns of cell proteins of the M. granularum strains showed a close resemblance to that of M. laidlawii. However, direct fluorescent-antibody procedures performed on colonies grown on a serum-free medium clearly distinguished M. granularum from M. laidlawii. The occurrence of nonsterol-requiring mycoplasmas, in addition to M. laidlawii, raises questions as to the taxonomy of M. granularum and of the saprophytic mycoplasmas in general.     

Evaluation of Some Serological Techniques for The Identification of Mycoplasma Hyorhinis and Mycoplasma Suipneumoniae

Eighteen strains of Mycoplasma hyorhinis and a strain of Mycoplasma suipneumoniae were tested in 4 serological tests, i. e., disc growth inhibition, metabolic inhibition, indirect haemagglutination and indirect epi-immunofluorescence. Only with immunofluorescence could all tested strains of M. hyorhinis be shown; no cross-reactions between M. hyorhinis and M. suipneumoniae could be detected. The other tests failed in many cases to identify strains of the same species, and they gave cross-reactions between M. hyorhinis and M. suipneumoniae.     

Serological reactivity of chemical fractions of Mycoplasma bovis.

Crude chemical fractions, homogenates, and whole cells of Mycoplasma bovis were tested for serological reactivity using agar gel diffusion, ring precipitation, indirect hemagglutination, inhibition of growth inhibition (IGI), and complement-fixation (CF) tests. Only the IGI and the CF tests gave sensitive and reproducible serological information. Preliminary studies indicated lipids to be the serologically reactive components of M. bovis.     

Polymerase chain reaction comparison of the gene for strictosidine synthase from ten Rauvolfia species

The gene for strictosidine synthase, str1, has been analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction in ten species of Rauvolfia, the origins of which span the tropical belt: R. cambodiana (Indochina), R. canescens (India), R. chinensis (China), R. heterophylla (Central America), R. mannii (West Africa), R. nitida (West Indies), R. praecox (Brasil), R. serpentina (India), R. sumatrana (Indonesia) and R. verticillata (Indochina). Restriction endonuclease analysis of the gene fragments produced with genomic DNA from each of the ten species as template revealed that str1 is highly conserved in the Rauvolfia species investigated. These results suggest that there is a stringent selection pressure on the gene for this key enzyme of indole alkaloid biosynthesis.Abbreviation PCR polymerase chain reaction     

PCR-based detection of Mycoplasma species

In this study, we describe our newly-developed sensitive two-stage PCR procedure for the detection of 13 common mycoplasmal contaminants (M. arthritidis, M. bovis, M. fermentans, M. genitalium, M. hominis, M. hyorhinis, M. neurolyticum, M. orale, M. pirum, M. pneumoniae, M. pulmonis, M. salivarium, U. urealyticum). For primary amplification, the DNA regions encompassing the 16S and 23S rRNA genes of 13 species were targeted using general mycoplasma primers. The primary PCR products were then subjected to secondary nested PCR, using two different primer pair sets, designed via the multiple alignment of nucleotide sequences obtained from the 13 mycoplasmal species. The nested PCR, which generated DNA fragments of 165-353 bp, was found to be able to detect 1-2 copies of the target DNA, and evidenced no cross-reactivity with the genomic DNA of related microorganisms or of human cell lines, thereby confirming the sensitivity and specificity of the primers used. The identification of contaminated species was achieved via the performance of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) coupled with Sau3AI digestion. The results obtained in this study furnish evidence suggesting that the employed assay system constitutes an effective tool for the diagnosis of mycoplasmal contamination in cell culture systems.     

十种姜科植物的染色体数目研究

报道了姜科3属10种植物的染色体数目。(1)姜属5种:版纳姜2n=22,弯管姜2n=22,圆瓣姜2n=22,红球姜2n=22,紫色姜2n=22;(2)舞花姜属4种:舞花姜2n=24,毛舞花姜2n=48,双翅舞花姜2n=48,澜沧舞花姜2n=32;(3)凹唇姜属1种:白斑凹唇姜2n=36。其中弯管姜、圆瓣姜、紫色姜、澜沧舞花姜、白斑凹唇姜的染色体数目为首次报道。     

Serological studies on twelve species of Candida

Ceratocystis minor var. barrasii, a fungus associated with the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, exhibits dimorphism which is influenced by the concentration of both carbon dioxide and phosphate. The mycelium produces blastospores from the tips and sides of its hyphae when the concentration of carbon dioxide is high, and these blastospores germinate if the concentration of phosphate is above about 10^–2 mM, whereas below this concentration they bud.     

Serological diversity within the species Legionella spiritensis

A strain of Legionella isolated from the environment which could not initially be identified was shown by restriction fragment length polymorphisms to be a Legionella spiritensis. This was confirmed by DNA homology studies, cell wall fatty acid composition and isoprenoid quinone analysis. This strain, which is only the second reported representative of the species, was shown to be serologically distinct from the type strain of L. spiritensis and all other serogroups of Legionella.