Abstract
Summary
Mycoplasmas were isolated from 73 of 379 (19%) commercial bovine serum lots examined, including 55 of 239 (23%) unprocessed fetal bovine and calf serum sublots received from 4 suppliers and 18 of 140 (13%) final lots obtained from 2 of 5 manufacturers. Of 31 mycoplasma strains examined for identity, 28 were identified as M. arginini and 3 strains were unrelated to 39 well established Mycoplasma species and serotypes and may represent new species. Mycoplasma arginini was isolated from 10 uninoculated cell cultures and one virus pool also. Data presented indicate that M. arginini is a common contaminant of commercial bovine sera and of cell cultures and that bovine serum is a major source of bovine mycoplasma contamination of cell cultures.
Addendum. Since Acholeplasma laidlawii is a common cell culture contaminant (1) of bovine origin, attempts to isolate this agent from commercial bovine serum were continued. The culture procedure was modified as follows: the horse serum component was deleted from the broth medium and cultures were incubated for 6 weeks at 32° with weekly subcultures to agar medium. Using this procedure, M. arginini and, in addition, A. laidlawii were isolated from 3 of the 16 positive final lots of fetal bovine serum listed in Table II. These findings indicate that both M. arginini and A. laidlawii are present in some final lots of commercial bovine serum and that the source of bovine mycoplasma contamination of cell cultures is commercial bovine serum.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.