Abstract
Agar-gel precipitation tests were carried out for serological studies of bovine ureaplasmas isolated from pneumonic calf lungs and urogenital tracts. A common precipitation line was observed between antigens and antisera of the representative bovine strains of serogroups previously determined by the metabolism inhibition test. The common antigen of the bovine ureaplasmas was also shared with Ureaplasma strains of human, feline, caprine, canine and fowl origins. It was never detected in 12 species of mycoplasmas and 2 species of acholeplasmas in the gel precipitation test. The results of the investigation suggest that the genus Ureaplasma may have an antigenic component common to the strains isolated from human and various animal species, but that it may be distinct from the strains of Mycoplasma and Acholeplasma.
