Identification of Mycoplasmas by Immunofluorescence

Immunofluorescence has been used as a diagnostic tool for identification of mycoplasmas cultured on artificial medium and also for detection of the organisms in situ in infected hosts and for detection of contaminated cell cultures. The technique has been used in research investigations to locate mycoplasmas in pathogenicity studies in both animals and in organ cultures, and it is also one of the recommended serological tests for the characterization of new species of Mollicutes (1 ). Another diagnostic application of immunofluorescence is the detection of mycoplasma antibodies (2 ), but the topic falls outside the scope of this chapter.