DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF AVIAN MYCOPLASMAS BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION AND RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM ASSAY

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers complementary to the 16S rRNA genes was used to detect avian mycoplasmas. A primer pair des igned for the detection of human and rodent mycoplasmal species was ex amined for its ability to detect the most important avian mycoplasmas, After testing the respective reference strains, we found that Mycopla sma iowae, Mycoplasma meleagridis and Mycoplasma synoviae could be det ected by PCR with this primer pair, and distinction could be made amon g them by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay with t wo restriction enzymes (BamHI and RsaI). For the detection of Mycoplas ma gallisepticum by PCR, we needed species-specific primers. The resul ts of the PCR-and RFLP-based identification procedures of 17 different field isolates agreed with those obtained by conventional methods. (C ) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.