Serological comparison and haemagglutinating activity of Mycoplasma dispar.

A comparison of twelve strains of Mycoplasma dispar by the metabolism inhibition and indirect haemagglutination tests has shown them to form a serologically homogeneous group of micro-organisms. The twelve strains vary in their haemagglutinating activity against erythrocytes from different animal species, and certain of the strains can be distinguished by the erythrocytes they agglutinate. Haemagglutination may thus provide a method by which certain strains can be typed. The erythrocyte receptor site does not appear to contain sialic acid and is not sensitive to proteolytic enzymes. On the mycoplasma cell two attachment sites have been demonstrated. One, by which it attaches to sheep and bovine erythrocytes, is a protein or contains a protein moiety. The chemical nature of the other attachment site, by which M. dispar attaches to rabbit erythrocytes, is unknown.