Stimulation of mouse lymphocytes by a mitogen derived from Mycoplasma arthritidis. I. Transformation is associated with an H-2-linked gene that maps to the I-E/I-C subregion.

Cell-free supernatant derived from broth cultures of Mycoplasma arthritidis functions as an effective T cell mitogen for lymphocytes from H2k and H2d strain mice. Lymphocytes from animals of the H2b, H2q, and H2s haplotypes failed to respond to this mitogen. By employing lymphocytes derived from congenic and recombinant strains we established the H2 linkage and mapped the controlling gene to the I-E/I-C subregion. In addition, these studies suggested that a correlation existed between responsiveness to this microbial product and the presence of the Ia7 specificity, a product of the I-E subregion.