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Acholeplasma seiffertii sp. nov., a Mollicute from Plant Surfaces

¹Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire et MolÉculaire, Institut Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique, F-33140 Pont-de-la-Maye, France
²Mycoplasma Section, Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Frederick, Maryland 21701
³Insect Pathology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Two mollicutes (strains F7^T [T = type strain] and F28) isolated from floral surfaces of plants growing in Morocco and France were capable of sustained growth in serum-free (or cholesterol-free) mycoplasma broth media. The two isolates were found to be genomically and serologically related. Morphologic examination of the organisms by electron and dark-field microscopic techniques showed that each strain consists of small, nonhelical, nonmotile, pleomorphic coccoid cells surrounded by a single cytoplasmic membrane. No evidence of cell walls was observed. Growth in serum-free or cholesterol-free medium was sustained only when the medium contained a Tween 80 fatty acid mixture (0.01 or 0.04%). The organisms grew rapidly in most conventional mycoplasma culture medium formulations containing horse or fetal bovine serum or a bovine serum fraction and under either aerobic or anaerobic environments. The optimum temperature for growth was 28°C, but multiplication occurred over a temperature range from 20 to 35°C. Both strains catabolized glucose and mannose, but did not hydrolyze arbutin, arginine, or urea. The molecular mass of the genome of strain F7^T was determined to be about 886 megadaltons, while the base composition (guanine-plus-cytosine content) of the DNA was found to be 30.0 mol%. The two isolates were serologically unrelated to type strains of the 11 previously described Acholeplasma species and to 10 other unclassified sterol-nonrequiring mollicutes cultivated from various animal, plant, or insect sources. Strain F7 (= ATCC 49495) is the type strain of Acholeplasma seiffertii sp. nov.