Colonial opacity variation in Mycoplasma pulmonis.

Colonial size and opacity variation were observed in four independently isolated strains of the murine pathogen Mycoplasma pulmonis. Selecting colonial opacity variants of similar size, we identified opaque and transparent stable variants. Opaque colony-derived broth cultures shed transparent colonies at a rate of about 1.2 X 10(-8) per CFU per generation. The reverse conversion was about two orders of magnitude less frequent. Appearance of opacity and plating efficiency of each pure culture were altered by changing the serum source used to supplement the growth medium. Horse or sheep serum was most efficient at accentuating visualization of opacity differences. Fetal bovine serum was least efficient. In two M. pulmonis strains, each opacity variant showed a distinctive polypeptide profile, as displayed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In the same strains, distinctive intrastrain differences were found by agarose gel electrophoresis to display the DNA fragments produced after digestion by several endonucleases. Each pure culture variant retained these differences in DNA even when grown in a medium supplemented with a serum which did not accentuate visualization of the opacity phenotype. Characterization of variants in 30 other M. pulmonis strains is in progress.