ABSTRACT

The mycoplasmas are small (0.2-0.3 mm) membranebound, pleomorphic, free-living procaryotes. They are the smallest organisms capable of independent selfreplication. They belong to the class of Mollicutes, which is a taxon that contains small procaryotic organisms bounded by a single cell membrane. Mollicutes have no known relationship to bacteria, but because of their filamentous shape, star shape, or spherical appearance, they can be confused with cell wall-deficient L-forms.