Demonstration by Electron Microscopy of Intracellular Virus in Acholeplasma laidlawii Infected with either MV-L3 or a Similar but Serologically Distinct Virus (BN1 virus)

Cultures of Acholeplasma laidlawii strain M1305/68 were inoculated with Mycoplasmatales virus-laidlawii 3 (MV-L3) and examined by electron microscopy. Particles resembling MV-L3 were observed both intra- and extracellularly in thin sections prepared from MV-L3 infected cultures, but not from uninfected cultures. Similar particles were occasionally observed in uninoculated cultures of A. laidlawii strain BN1 cells, from which a virus (BN1 virus) was subsequently isolated. This virus was morphologically similar but not identical to MV-L3. It also differed serologically from, and in its resistance to, MV-L3 and the other mycoplasma viruses.