Distinctive Antigenic Specificities of Adenosine Triphosphatases and Reduced Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Dehydrogenases as Means for Classification of the Order Mycoplasmatales

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Abstract
Since the species classified in order Mycoplasmatales can be separated into at least 6 antigenically distinct groups by analytical serology, one compared the antigenic specificities of the ATPases and NADH dehydrogenases of 14 strains by using quantitative immunoelectrophoresis and specific strains to identify enzymatically active precipitin peaks. The following species and serological groups were studied: Mycoplasma putrefaciens, M. capricolum and Mycoplasma sp. bovine group VII (group 1); Acholeplasma laidlawii and A. equifetale (group 2); M. gallisepticum (group 4); M. pneumoniae (group 5); M. felis (group 6); M. arginini, M. hominis and M. gallinarum (group 7); and Ureaplasma urealyticum (ungrouped). Each strain showed ATPase activity which formed a precipitin peak against the homologous antiserum. Eight serologically distinct ATPases were identified and most of these ATPases cross-reacted only within serologically related clusters of species, not between clusters; the exception was group 7, where the ATPase of M. gallinarum had a different specificity than the cross-reacting enzymes of M. arginini and M. hominis. All species except U. urealyticum possessed a NADH dehydrogenase, but the enzymes in M. felis, M. hominis and M. arginini did not precipitate with any antisera. The remaining species showed 5 distinct specificities of NADH dehydrogenases and the antigenic relationships of these enzymes exactly paralleled those observed with ATPases. The serological specificities of common mycoplasmic enzymes are powerful taxonomic tools.