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. 2012 Jul;158(Pt 7):1867–1873. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.058222-0

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

Staining of mycoplasmas with India ink. Black arrows indicate negative-staining material, while white arrows indicate the mycoplasmas in the microcolonies. Exclusion zones (haloes, see black arrows) are observed surrounding the microcolonies of strains CTp12 (a, d and e), CTG-R40 (f) and individual mycoplasma cells of strain CTG-R40 (c). (a, b) The same microcolony stained with India ink and Hoechst, respectively. The Hoechst binds to the DNA of the mycoplasmas and indicates the location of the cellular mass relative to the negative-staining material. (g, h) Strain CTG-R40 stained with India ink, showing negatively staining material running in strands between a microcolony and other cells. (i) Microcolonies of strain CTG-R40 that lack an exclusion zone after washing in PBS. The negative-staining material is not observed extending between the microcolonies of mutants CTG1291 (j) and CTG1702 (k), nor is it observed forming a halo around the microcolonies. Scale bars: (a, b, d, e, g, h, j and k) 50 µm; (f, i) 25 µm; (c) 10 µm.