(Received I February 200I / Accepted 30 April 2001)

Abstract.
Considerable advances have been made in understanding the components of the virion particles of equine herpesvirus type I (EHV 1). Many functions of related glycoproteins in virus pathogenicity and their molecular interactions with the immune system have been revealed. There is a great challenge of understanding their roles and the complexities underlying protective immune mechanism, but the increasingly widespread application of molecular biological approaches is leading to rapid advances of this area.

Keywords: Equine herpesvirus type 1, molecular biology, immunology

Fermentation and Enzyme Technology Laboratory
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia

(Received 9 November 2000 / Accepted 30 June 2001)

Abstract.
The manganese peroxidase was purified by means of ammonium sulphate precipitation and gel filtration chromatography of Sephadex G 100 and agarose. The enzyme recovery of 40.9% was obtained, with about 16 folds with the specific activity of about 8.0 U/mg protein. Purification of the enzyme was pet formed using the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 45,000 Dalton by SDS PAGE. The optimum temperature and pH were 30–37^oC and 4.5, respectively. The enzyme was stable at pH of 4.5 and almost 60% of the enzyme activity was retained even after 48 hour at 30^oC.

Keywords: manganese peroxidase, extracellular, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, fermentation, solid state

¹Department of Biotechnology, ²Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnol
ogy, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Malaysia.

(Received 24 March 2001 / Accepted 5 July 2001)

Abstract.
A total of 27 isolates of S. enteritidis from poultry and one isolate from human source were investigated by RAPD PCR, BOX PCR, plasmid profile and antibiotic resistance patterns. All isolates were (100%) resistant to penicillin, bacitracin, clindamycin and carbenicillin; and all isolates can be separated into five antibiotic resistant patterns. All the isolates showed high multiple antibiotic resistance index, indicating that all strains tested were originated from high risk sources. All the isolates carry at least one plasmid ranging from 1.9 to 37 MDa and enabled the S. enteritidis to be grouped into eight plasmid profiles. RAPD PCR with primers Genl 50 03 and Gen 1 50 09 and BOX PCR with primer BOXA21R differentiated the isolates into 22, 16 and 14 distinct DNA patterns respectively. RAPD results showed that isolates were genetically very heterogeneous, while BOX PCR results reflect the distribution of the BOX element in the genome among the isolates. RAPD PCR showed the highest discriminating power among all the techniques, while BOX PCR indicated a good potential for use in epidemiological investigations. Although antibiotic resistance and plasmid profiles were found to be less sensitive than the PCR based techniques tested, nevertheless, the PCR based techniques provided additional evidence for determination of the relatedness of the isolates of S. enteritidis.

Keywords: Salmonella enteritidis, antibiotic resistance, plasmid, BOX PCR, RAPD

School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor Malaysia

(Received 23 September 2000 / Accepted 5 April 2001)

Abstract.
This study is the first report of protocol for transfer and expression of a foreign gene into Capsicum annuum L. by Agrobacterium rhizogenes mediated transformation. Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4 harbouring the plasmid pCAMB 1A 1301 containing 35SINT as a binary vector was used to infect the cotyledons and hypocotyls. The inoculated explants were transferred onto NIS media with 250 mg/l cefotaxime after 2 days of cocultivation. Putatively stable transformed roots and hairy roots were successfully obtained. GUS histochemical analysis has showed that the highest frequency of transformation were 8.9% from hypocotyls without preculture treatment and 9.3% from cotyledons with 2 days of precultures treatment. Transformed roots and hairy roots exhibited strong GUS activities predominantly along the vascular tissues as indicated by an intense blue color. Stable integration of the GUS gene was confirmed by partial amplification of GUS fragment (789 bp). Both GUS and PCR analysis have suggested the possible effect of co transfor mation and gene silencing in transformed roots and hairy roots.

Keywords: Agrobacterium rhizogenes, hairy roots, GUS expression, Capsicum annuum.