MycoplasmaTaxonomy Studied by Electrophoresis of Cell Proteins

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Abstract
The electrophoretic patterns of cell proteins in polyacrylamide gels were used for the study of several taxonomic problems in theMycoplasmatales. The patterns of fiveMycoplasma hominisstrains showed marked differences that corresponded with their known serological and nucleic acid heterogeneity. The patterns of threeM. mycoidesvar.mycoidesstrains isolated in different countries were essentially identical. The electrophoretic patterns of several caprine strains resembled those ofM. mycoidesvar.mycoides, supporting their classification asM. mycoidesvar.capri. Strain B3, a swine isolate, accordingly was tentatively identified asM. mycoidesvar.capri. The bovine mastitis strainM. agalactiaevar.bovispossessed a pattern basically similar to that of the goat mastitis strainM. agalactiae, supporting the inclusion of both strains in one species. ThreeM. pulmonisstrains isolated from rats or tissue cultures showed nearly identical patterns. The pattern of the toxigenicM. neurolyticum(Sabin A) strain resembled but was not identical with that of the nontoxigenic PG28 strain. The avianMycoplasmaspecies,M. gallisepticum, M. meleagridis, M. synoviae, M. gallinarum, andM. inersshowed easily distinguishable and specific patterns, supporting their present classification in different species. Several improvements in the electrophoretic technique are described, and its advantages and limitations as a taxonomic tool are discussed.