Intracellular location and survival of Mycoplasma penetrans within HeLa cells.

Mycoplasma penetrans invades HeLa cells and survives within them for prolonged periods of time. The intracellular distribution of M. penetrans within HeLa cells was studied utilizing the acidotropic dye LysoTracker (green), which permeates cell membranes and upon protonation remains trapped in acidic compartments. The excitation and emission spectra of the green LysoTracker are suitable for colocalization studies with rabbit anti- M. penetrans antibodies and red Cy5 goat anti-rabbit IgG. The images collected by confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that in the infected HeLa cells almost all Cy5 fluorescent foci (red) were located within the LysoTrack-labelled intracellular compartments, apparently endosomes. Viable mycoplasmas were detected within endosomes for prolonged periods of time, apparently due to a potent antioxidant activity detected in M. penetrans.