Habitat and Morphology of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Habitat of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

1. They are found in the mucosa of upper respiratory tract (UTR) and urogenital tract of humans.
2. Also found in oral cavity.
3. They are also present in sewage, plants, animals, insects, humans and hot springs.
4. They grow slowly than bacteria.
5. They are self-replicating bacteria.
6. They are atypical bacteria.
7. They do not grow in the environment.
8. They depends on the host for nutrient exchange and survival.
9. They are parasitic bacterium.
10. They require sterol for their nutrition.
11. They usually divide by binary fission.

Morphology of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

1. They lack rigid cell wall.
2. They are small non-motile bacterium.
3. They form fried egg shaped colonies.
4. They are about 100-200 nm width and 1000-2000 nm in length.
5. Some of them are spherical shaped (300-800 nm).
6. They are pleomorphic (Able to change shape)
7. They may be rod like, ring like, globoid or filamentous.
8. They are ultra-filterable.
9. They do not produce spores.
10. Cells are surrounded by a triple layered lipo-proteinaceous unit membrane which is 10 nm thick.
11. They are not easily examined by light microscope.
12. Capsule are present to facilitate adherence to the host cell.

Genomes of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

1. They are 816394 base pair long.
2. GC Content: 40%.
3. Codes for 700 proteins
4. They have 677 open reading frames (ORF)