Myco-Visible Mycoplasma Rapid Test Kit

Mycoplasmas are frequently found in research laboratories and are resistant to many antibiotics used to control bacterial contamination in cell cultures, particularly those targeting cell wall formation, such as penicillin. Their lack of a cell wall also enables some mycoplasmas to pass through 0.2 μm filters. Several studies have examined the prevalence of mycoplasma contamination in cell cultures, with estimates reaching as high as 80%. A global average contamination rate between 25% and 50% is likely. This widespread issue can result in significant economic losses for the industry. The majority of cell culture contamination cases are caused by six to eight species originating from human, porcine, or bovine hosts, with Mycoplasma orale and Mycoplasma hyorhinis being the most common. Myco-Visible Mycoplasma Rapid Test Kit has been demonstrated to be a highly sensitive, specific and rapid assay for the detection of mycoplasma contamination in cell cultures. Myco-Visible Mycoplasma Rapid Test Kit achieves this by targeting and amplifying unique regions of the mycoplasma genome at loci that are well conserved in all Mollicutes, including Acholeplasma laidlawii, Mycoplasma arginini, Mycoplasma fermentans, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma hyorhinis Mycoplasma orale, Mycoplasma salivarium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The assay procedure can be completed within 1 hour and the detection limit is as low as 10 Colony-forming Units/mL (CFU/mL) or 10 fg of Mycoplasma genomic DNA per reaction. Specificity test showed no cross-reactivity with other bacterial, fungal and mammalian DNA. The test assay is simple to perform and requires no special technical expertise or lab equipment. Positive results can be visualized on an immunochromatographic test device in less than 5 minutes after sample loading.  Figure 1: Analytical sensitivity test of Myco-Visible Mycoplasma Rapid Test Kit. All seven strains of mycoplasma were tested at concentrations of 100 and 10 CFU/mL. All samples yielded positive results at both concentrations. The negative control is a no template reaction mix (nuclease-free water) incubated along with other samples. Figure 2: Specificity test of Myco-Visible Mycoplasma Rapid Test Kit. In the upper row, purified gDNA at 1 x 105 copies/reaction from 10 bacteria species that are genetically related to mycoplasma were tested. In the lower row, gDNA isolated from human, mouse, yeast (15,16) as well as uncontaminated cell culture (13,14) were tested. All samples showed a negative result, indicating no cross-reactivity.

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