Lonza
Mycoplasma detection
One of the most common contaminants in cell culture laboratories is mycoplasma. Cells are usually infected by cross-contamination from not tested infected cells (eg, through aerosols generated during pipetting, using the same medium bottles, working with more than one cell type at a time), contaminated material, contaminated donor tissue (<1%), or direct infection from the researcher.
Mycoplasma grows slowly and does not necessarily kill the cells, but affects different cellular parameters, such as changing the cell membrane's antigenicity, creating chromosomal level changes, inhibiting cell metabolism and fragmenting DNA.
To ensure accurate and reliable results from cell culture experiments, it is important to regularly test cell cultures for mycoplasma contamination. It can be challenging to detect mycoplasmas contamination because it does not cause change in pH or turbidity of the cell culture medium, which are common indicators of other contaminants.
We recommend MycoAlert ™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit from Lonza, a safe and easy test that takes very little time to perform.
MycoAlert™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit
The MycoAlert™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit from Lonza, is a selective biochemical test that exploits the activity of mycoplasmal enzymes. These enzymes are found in all six of the main mycoplasma cell culture contaminants and the vast majority of 180 mycoplasma species, but are not present in eukaryotic cells.
- Convenient and fast
- Simply add two reagents to the culture supernatant
- Perform two luminescence readings
- Results in less than 20 min
- Easy interpretation of results
- Detects all common mollicute contaminations (Mycoplasma, Acholeplasma, Entomoplasma and Spiroplasma; except Ureaplasma)
- Negligible interference with media components
MycoAlert™ PLUS Mycoplasma Detection Kit generates a higher light output compared to the first-generation kit. This allows for:
- Use with less sensitive plate luminometers or multifunctional readers
- Testing of unused media, media supplements, or water
The positive control for the MycoAlert™ Mycoplasma Detection Kit is available separately in the MycoAlert™ Assay Control Set (#LT07-518). The control set includes a lyophilized positive control and assay buffer for reconstitution, which also serves as a negative control. We always recommend using the control set when performing assays.
Cat. no. | Description | Size | Instructions |
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LT07-118 | MycoAlert Detection Kit | 10 tests | Download |
LT07-218 | MycoAlert Detection Kit | 25 tests | Download |
LT07-318 | MycoAlert Detection Kit | 100 tests | Download |
LT07-418 | MycoAlert Detection Kit | 50 tests | Download |
LT07-701 | MycoAlert PLUS detection kit | 10 tests | Download |
LT07-703 | MycoAlert PLUS detection kit | 30 tests | Download |
LT07-705 | MycoAlert PLUS detection kit | 50 tests | Download |
LT07-710 | MycoAlert PLUS detection kit | 100 tests | Download |
LT07-518 | MycoAlert Assay Control Set | 10 tests | Download |
BLOG ARTICLE: "What to do if you suspect Mycoplasma contamination in your cell culture"
Mycoplasma contamination can compromise the reliability of cell culture experiments and bioproduct manufacturing. Often undetected for months, it affects over 10% of cultures. Routine testing is essential to ensure uncontaminated work. Discover key challenges, detection methods, and prevention strategies in this blog post.
Lucetta™ 2 luminometer
Interested in Using MycoAlert™ Assays but no luminometer at hand?
The Lucetta™ 2 luminometer is a single tube luminometer designed with a specific mode for using Lonza’s MycoAlert™ Mycoplasma Detection Assays. It guides you through the protocol and immediately provides assay results as CLEAN, BORDERLINE or CONTAMINATED sample.
The Lucetta™ 2 luminometer is provided by Lonza, and can also be used for many other luminescence-based assays, such as cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assays or luciferase reporter gene assays.
Cat. no. | Description | Manual |
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AAL-1002 | Lucetta™ 2 Luminometer | Download |