Neuraminidase-like Enzyme present in Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Abstract

Mycoplasma gallisepticum is the agent responsible for chronic respiratory disease in chickens. It will agglutinate mammalian and avian erythrocytes, and this phenomenon has been used to detect M. gallisepticum haemagglutinating inhibition antibodies. Two antigens have been used in the haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test. The first will here be referred to as the “prepared antigen”. This was obtained by growing the organism in broth, centrifuging and resuspending the organism in equal parts of glycerol and phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.0), freezing and storing until required for use, when it is further diluted in phosphate buffered saline. The other antigen is a rapidly growing 24 h broth culture grown in PPLO broth, 10 per cent horse serum, 1 per cent yeast autolysate, and 0.1 per cent dextrose, with the pH. adjusted to 7.8 (ref. 1).