Submicroscopic organization of M. pneumoniae studied by means of negative contrasting, ultrathin sections and scanning electron microscopy
Konstantinova, N.D.; Barkhatova, O.I.; Baĭzhomartov, M.S.
Zhurnal Mikrobiologii Epidemiologii i Immunobiologii 1979(7): 66-71
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0372-9311 PMID: 89769 Document Number: 149741
The ultrastructure of M. pneumoniae, grown on a solid culture medium and in a liquid one, was studied by a number of methods. Two types of cells were shown to prevail in the culture: spherical cells (0.5--1 micrometer) forming chains of different configurations and filamentous cells (5 micrometer long and greater) with spherical enlargements along their whole length. The absence of microcapsules made M. pneumoniae different from other species of mycoplasms, and the organism proliferated by division into 2 daughter cells, equal or unequal in size, by the segmentation of the cytoplasm and the formation of elementary bodies inside the cell and on its surface.