Toxic membrane fractions from Mycoplasma fermentans.

A recent isolate of Mycoplasma fermentans (strain K10, from human leukemic bone marrow) induced a lethal toxicity syndrome in mice. High doses of both viable and inactivated cells were toxic when injected intraperitoneally. Whole lysates and membranes from osmotically shocked cells killed mice, but cytoplasm did not. When membranes were dissolved in detergents and reaggregated by dialysis in the presence of Mg(2+), the lipid-protein complex thus formed was toxic. Lipids extracted from membranes with chloroform-methanol did not kill mice. Protein-rich fractions (obtained by reaggregation plus acetone washes or ammonium sulfate precipitation of dissolved membranes) were also not toxic. No qualitative differences in proteins from three toxic isolates and three nontoxic laboratory strains of M. fermentans were detectable by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The toxic factor contained in reaggregated membranes was heat-stable but sensitive to Pronase, trypsin, and lipase.