Detection of campylobacter spp. and complobacter jejuni in raw vegetables by using direct polymerase chain reaction

• Main Author: Jong, Lee Yee
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2010
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7829/4/Detection%20of%20Campylobacter...%28fulltext%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7829/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Campylobacter spp. particularly Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) has been recognized as the major cause of gastroenteritis throughout the world. To-date, only a few studies have been conducted on the possibility of transmission of Campylobacter spp. through contaminated environment particularly to the foods of non-animal origin. In this research, Campylobacter spp. and C. jejuni was detected from fresh and raw vegetable samples. Among the three main vegetables lettuce (Lactuca sativa), kai-lan (Brassica alboglabra) and leaf mustard (Brassica chinensis) studied were bought from three different wet markets in Kuching and Kota Samarahan area. The three types of vegetables were bought randomly from three stalls in each wet market. In this study, Bolton Enrichment Broth Base (BEBB) was used as the enrichment media while Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the detection of Campylobacter spp. and C. jejuni at molecular level. A total of 36 raw vegetables samples were subjected to PCR analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene for Campylobacter spp. and hip gene for C. jejuni respectively. Twelve out of thirty six samples (33%) were positive for Campylobacter spp. while four out of thirty six samples (11%) were positive for C. jejuni. Campylobacter spp. and C. jejuni was successfully detected from the raw vegetables samples by using direct PCR method.