Features of Mollicutes

Features of Mollicutes

Characteristic Features of Mollicutes - Characteristic features of the mycoplasmas are as follows:

(I) Unicellular, prokaryotic, usually non motile and form fried egg shaped colonies .

(2) Highly pleomorphic, form varying with culture conditions. Under different microscopy, they appear small coccoid bodies, ring forms and fine filaments some of which are branched.

(3) Filtrable through bacterial filters

(4) Cell wall absent. Cells delimited by a triple layered lipoproteinaceous unit membrane the plasma membrane

(5) Both DNA and RNA present. DNA base composition ranges

(6) Resistant to antibiotics as penicillins that act on cell walls

(7) Inhibited by tetracyclines and .similar antibiotics that act on metabolic pathway

(8) Mostly free-living, parasites and saprophytes. They are true cells. Like animal cells, they have, however, no demonstrable cell walls. The sole retaining structure is the cytoplasmic membrane which like most other cell membranes is phospho lipid protein bilayer or unit type, continuous, flexible and 7-11 nm thick. Mollicutes are simpler than the cells of higher plants and animals. They possess all the necessary biochemical machinery to grow and multiply in the absence of other cells.

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