Studies of intraspecies heterogeneity of mycoplasma synoviae, M. meleagridis, and M. iowae with arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction.

Intraspecies genotypic heterogeneity among isolates and strains of M. synoviae (MS), M. iowae (MI), and M. meleagridis (MM) was demonstrated with the arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) method. The generated banding patterns of amplified DNA indicated a degree of genotypic heterogeneity among MS, MI, and MM isolates and strains tested, whereas isolates from common sources generated clusters with identical banding patterns. The results show that flocks infected with members of the cluster were epidemiologically associated, possibly by a common or point source of infection. This AP-PCR method may be a useful identification tool in epidemiology of mycoplasmosis in poultry.