Fine structure of Haemobartonella muris as compared with Eperythrozoon coccoides and Mycoplasma pulmonis.

Tanaka, H. (The Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y.), W. T. Hall, J. B. Sheffield, and D. H. Moore. Fine structure of Haemobartonella muris as compared with Eperythrozoon coccoides and Mycoplasma pulmonis. J. Bacteriol. 90:1735-1749. 1965.-Thin sections of filterable hemolytic anemia agent of rat, now identified as Haemobartonella muris, revealed (i) that the agent is spherical or ellipsoidal and 350 to 700 mmu in size, (ii) that it has a single limiting membrane enclosing granules and some filaments (neither cell wall nor nucleoid was found), and (iii) that it is found preferentially at the surface and sometimes within the cytoplasmic vacuoles of erythrocytes in the circulating blood and bone marrow, and multiplies there through binary fission. No specific structure suggestive of motility was found. From the morphological point of view, Eperythrozoon coccoides was found to be very similar to H. muris, whereas Mycoplasma pulmonis, also covered with a single limiting membrane, differs in its pleomorphism and multiplication. These and some other microorganisms taxonomically between bacteria and viruses were compared morphologically, and their possible classification is discussed.