A PCR protocol to establish standards for routine mycoplasma testing that by design detects over ninety percent of all known mycoplasma species
Dominik Siegl, Marie Kruchem, Sandrine Jansky, Emma Eichler, Dorothe Thies, Udo F. Hartwig, Detlef Schuppan, Ernesto Bockamp
Abstract
Mycoplasma infection leads to false and non-reproducible scientific data and poses a risk to human health. Despite strict guidelines calling for regular mycoplasma screening, there is no universal and widely established standard procedure. Here, we describe a reliable and cost-effective PCR method that establishes a universal protocol for mycoplasma testing. The applied strategy utilizes ultra-conserved eukaryotic and mycoplasma sequence primers covering by design 92% of all species in the six orders of the class Mollicutes within the phylum Mycoplasmatota and is applicable to mammalian and many non-mammalian cell types. This method can stratify mycoplasma screening and is suitable as a common standard for routine mycoplasma testing.