Growing cells outside the body is typically done in controlled settings. However, cells are exposed to contamination dangers and one of the biggest and most difficult contaminants in the lab is mycoplasma. These small parasites can not only infect and alter your cell lines, but they can kill your cells ruining weeks and even years worth of research.
Learn more about the dangers of mycoplasma and solutions you can use including Captivate Bio’s CAPTiCLEAN™ Solution for CO2 incubators and the EZ-PCR™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit for protecting your cell cultures and tackling contamination in your lab.
Mycoplasma are one of the most common, yet elusive, contaminants of mammalian cell cultures. As the smallest known free-living organism, mycoplasma are a pervasive, parasitic species of highly-infectious bacteria that are estimated to contaminate between 15-35% of all continuous cell cultures worldwide. Once Mycoplasma enters your cultures, it competes and consumes nutrients your cells need, having an overall effect on cell growth and proliferation. And because you can’t see mycoplasma with your naked eye, Mycoplasma often goes undetected, causing ruined experiments, significant financial loss, and invalidating scientific data.
At Captivate Bio, we help you take control of contamination with a complete approach to prevention and detection. Whether you’re routinely screening cultures, troubleshooting inconsistent data, or protecting critical cell lines, our solutions are designed to help keep your lab clean and your data reliable and reproducible.
The name mycoplasma refers to the genus of gram-negative, self-replicating species of bacteria. As the smallest known free-living organism, mycoplasma species are a pervasive, parasitic variety of highly infectious bacteria. Consequently making mycoplasma one of the most common, yet elusive, contaminants of mammalian cell cultures.
They are entirely dependent on a host (humans, animals, plants) for survival and nutrients, lacking cell walls and attaching to a host cell to steal resources.
Their cell membrane is very pliable, which not only allows them to change shape, but makes them quite resistant to pressure, temperature, and dehydration.
As the smallest free-living prokaryote, with an average size of only 0.15 to 0.3 µm, they are too small to be seen by the eye or under a standard microscope.
Unfortunately, it can be challenging to detect mycoplasma contamination. However, the earlier mycoplasma contamination is discovered, the simpler it is to treat. One of the only ways you can detect for contamination is to test your cell lines. There are several different methods used today including direct staining, ELISA, DNA fluorochrome staining, biochemical methods, and PCR-based testing methods.
Agar plates are the gold standard method. If present, mycoplasma colonies will arise over time looking like tiny fried eggs under the microscope
DNA staining, immunostaining, and FISH methods require specific equipment and material and often a little interpretation of the results.
Mycoplasma screening by PCR is one of the most sensitive and analytical methods available. PCR is a simple, quick way to test your cell cultures on a routine basis.
About 95% of all mycoplasma in cell culture is made-up of only six species. Most commonly in labs, the species are bovine, swine, and human in origin. Human isolates, specifically, make up the largest percent of contamination in cell cultures by far. There are over 23 species of mycoplasma that can infect humans. And although most are pathogenic, causing diseases like walking pneumonia, some have actually evolved to become part of our natural internal flora. As it turns out, about 80% of lab technicians are carrying mycoplasma today. 38% of those technicians are able to contaminate a culture just by a single sneeze, and 6% can contaminate simply by talking.
Data: Frequency of different species of mycoplasma occurring in cell culture. Typically, humans introduce more than 81% of contamination followed by bovine through contaminated media, and porcine through trypsin solutions. N.L., Farzaneh P. 2012.
Gel electrophoresis results obtained following PCR reaction preparation and amplification. Routinely used by labs worldwide, this sample was provided by the WiCell Research Institute. Using the EZ-PCR™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit, Eight total reactions, including six samples, one negative control, and one positive control were tested, each of which contain the internal control to rule out PCR inhibition (i.e. false negatives). As shown, Sample 4 produced a mycoplasma-positive band at 270bp in addition to the internal control band at 357bp, while Samples 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 produced only internal control bands and are thus negative for mycoplasma.
TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT
Captivate Bio provides a simple preventative solution for keeping your incubator water bath clean and clear of unwanted microbial contamination. For researchers working in a CO2 incubators, CAPTiCLEAN™ is a highly active, non-volatile, non-corrosive, and non-toxic treatment for maintaining water quality when added to your water pan.
September 2025. Check out the newest top 10 tips on keeping your lab clean from Captivate Bio. Get tips on water quality and cell line testing. Read now.
Download this free eBook from Captivate Bio. We’ve compiled information over the years to help you build on a lab program designed to fit your own needs.
Mycoplasma contamination is a serious and wide-spread problem in cell culture research. Follow these simple tips for preventing mycoplasma contamination from affecting your lab’s research and results.
