Fowl adenovirus (FAdV) is the causative agent of inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) in chickens with significant economic losses due to high mortality and poor production. It was objectives of the study to attenuate and determine the molecular characteristic of FAdV isolate (UPM1137) of Malaysia passages in primary chicken embryo liver (CEL) cells. The cytopathic effect (CPE) was recorded and the present of the virus was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Nucleotide and amino acid changes were determined and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The pathogenicity and immunogenicity of the virus at passage 35 (CEL35) with virus titre of 106.7TCID50/mL was determined in day old specific pathogen free (SPF) chicks via oral or subcutaneous route of inoculation. The study demonstrated that the FAdV isolate was successfully propagated and attenuated in CEL cells up to 35th consecutive passages (CEL35) with delayed of CPE formation within 48 to 72 post inoculation (pi) from CEL20 onwards. The virus caused typical CPE with basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies, refractile and clumping of cells. The virus is belong to serotype 8b with substitution of amino acid at position 44, 133 and 185 in L1 loop of hexon gene and in knob of fiber gene at position 348 and 360 at CEL35. It is non-pathogenic, but immunogenic in SPF chickens. It was concluded that the FAdV isolate was successfully attenuated in CEL cells with molecular changes in major capsid proteins which affect its infectivity in cell culture and SPF chickens.
This study was undertaken to determine the virulence, antimicrobial resistance and molecular subtypes of Salmonella in the Central Region of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 45 Salmonella Enteritidis were detected from live chicken (cloacal swab), and chicken products (fresh and ready-to-eat meat) samples upon cultural isolation and serotyping. Similarly, an antimicrobial susceptibility test based on the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method as well as antimicrobial resistance AMR genes, virulence determinants and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) typing were conducted after the Whole Genome Sequencing and analysis of the isolates. The results indicate that sequence types ST1925 (63.7%), and ST11 (26.5%) were the predominant out of the seven sequence types identified (ST292, ST329, ST365, ST423 and ST2132). The phenotypic antimicrobial profile corresponds to the genotypic characterization in that the majority of the isolates that exhibited tetracycline, gentamycin and aminoglycoside resistance; they also possessed the tetC and blaTEM β-Lactam resistance genes. However, isolates from cloacal swabs showed the highest number of resistance genes compared to the chicken products (fresh and ready-to-eat meat) samples. Furthermore, most of the virulence genes were found to cluster in the Salmonella pathogenicity island (SPI). In this study, all the isolates were found to possess SPI-1, which codes for the type III secretion system, which functions as actin-binding proteins (SptP and SopE). The virulence plasmid (VP) genes (spvB, spvC) were present in all genotypes except ST365. The findings of this study, particularly with regard to the molecular subtypes and AMR profiles of the Salmonella Enteritidis serotype shows multidrug-resistance features as well as genetic characteristics indicative of high pathogenicity.