[Differential activity of genes of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in acute and chronic forms of experimental infection].

The complex of investigations was carried out with a view to study the mechanisms making it possible for mycoplasmas to switch off the expression of definite genes in persistence. The main method used in these investigations was the method of molecular portrayal, or RNA fingerprinting, with the use of arbitrary primers. The comparative analysis of gene expression in M. pneumoniae strains having different virulence revealed that in the avirulent strain subcultured under in vitro conditions the expression of considerable number of genes was inhibited. In the body of an experimental animal the expression of many genes, including the gene coding the synthesis of the main pathogenicity factor, adhesion protein, switched on.