Mycoplasma detection
Mycoplasma is a prokaryotic microorganism without cell wall and is one of the smallest known extracellular microorganisms. It is known for its highly diverse morphology, which can be spherical, rod-shaped, filamentous, branched and so on. In order to detect the presence of mycoplasma, the scientists used a specific sequence design primers and specific amplification using PCR technology. PCR selectively replicates the target DNA when mycoplasma contamination is present, followed by detection using agarose electrophoresis. If the result is positive, it means that mycoplasma is present. On the contrary, if there is no mycoplasma contamination, PCR cannot be amplified, because there is no template for replication, and the results of agarose electrophoresis will be negative. This method is accurate and rapid, and provides a reliable means for the detection of mycoplasma.
Technical principle
In the field of prokaryotes, the base sequence of rRNA is highly conserved. However, the base sequences of DNA spacers (such as 16S and 23S spacers) encoding rRNA are very different among different biological species. In particular, in Mycoplasma organisms, the DNA sequences and lengths of these spacers are both relatively conserved and largely different. In order to amplify the DNA spacer region encoding 16S and 23S rRNA, we designed a pair of primers named F1/R1 and applied them to this preparation. Through this specific amplification reaction system, we can only amplify Mycoplasma DNA with high sensitivity and specificity. By designing primers to specific sequences of mycoplasma, we can specifically amplify the target DNA using PCR technology. When there is mycoplasma contamination, PCR will copy the target DNA and produce specific amplification products. Through agarose electrophoresis, we can observe positive results, that is, obvious bands appear. On the contrary, if there is no mycoplasma contamination, PCR cannot be amplified due to the lack of template, so the agarose electrophoresis results will show negative, that is, no band appears.
Real Experimental Research Hundreds of Detection Experiments 6 Experimental Platforms









