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Stains For Mycoplasmas
The mycoplasmas are the smallest and the simplest self replicating prokaryote. The mycoplasma cell contains only the mini­mum set of organelles essential for cell growth and replication; plasmamembrane to separate the cytoplasm from the external environment, ribosomes to synthesize the cell proteins and double stranded deoxyribonucleic acid molecule to provide genetic informations.

Mycoplasmas are grown in soft agar medium with high concentration (10-20% v/v) of serum or other proteins. They act as a source of cholesterol, fatty acid and urea. For various aspects of mycoplasmology, the reader is referred to Maniloff and Morowitz (6), Maramorsch (7), Smith and Sangster (8) and Razin (9). Mycoplasma cells stain poorly by Gram stain, but are Gram negative. consequently, various special staining techniques are developed like; over night Giemsa, intensified Giemsa, described by Marmion (10). Dienes' stain, cresyl-fast violet or orcein.