Heterogeneity of Mycoplasma hominis as detected by a probe for atp genes

Use of a plasmid containing part of the atp operon of Mycoplasma PG50 as a probe in Southern blots show that this region can be used to detect the presence of Mycoplasma species in general. DNA from 14 different strains of M. hominis was analyzed for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) by the use of the same PG50 probe. The M. hominis strains exhibit considerable polymorphism, although some groupings can be observed. These groupings are compared to those obtained for the same strains by other means. The groups are not conserved, thus further demonstrating the heterogeneity of M. hominis.