The isolation of multiple strains of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae from individual pneumonic sheep lungs.

The heterogeneity of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae isolates from the lungs of sheep with chronic non-progressive pneumonia (CNP) from the same flock raised the possibility that multiple isolates derived from one lung were not all identical. To test this hypothesis, thirty isolates were obtained from each of six pneumonic sheep lungs at slaughter. Four lungs had relatively severe lesions and from each of these, three or four strains of M. ovipneumonia, distinguishable by REA and in most cases by SDS-PAGE, were detected. From the lungs of each of two sheep with mild lesions, two strains of M. ovipneumoniae were detected. Four isolates from one lung were further examined by restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) using many restriction endonucleases. Those which differed with EcoRI also differed when other restriction endonucleases were used. However, partial digests occurred mainly with those restriction endonucleases which recognise cytosine-rich sequences. The presence of multiple strains of one species of microorganism in individual lesions is an unusual concept which may not be limited to one disease or to one host.