Antigenic and genomic homogeneity of successive Mycoplasma hominis isolates.

Sixty Mycoplasma hominis isolates were obtained from the cervices of pregnant women and from the ears or pharynges of their newborn babies. The isolates were examined by SDS-PAGE and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Antigenic and genomic profiles were obtained for 16 series with two or more successive isolates. Both analyses led to the conclusion that isolates from the same woman were identical or nearly identical, while isolates from different women exhibited a high degree of variation with respect to both genomic and antigenic profiles.