POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION AMPLIFICATION OF THE THYMIDINE KINASE AND PROTEIN KINASE-RELATED GENES OF CHANNEL CATFISH VIRUS AND A PUTATIVE PILCHARD HERPESVIRUS

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification assays were developed fo r the detection of thymidine kinase (TK) and protein kinase (PK)-relat ed genes of the channel catfish virus (CCV). Two pairs of primers were constructed based on the published nucleotide sequences of CCV and we re used to amplify the expected fragments of 584 and 755 bp for the TK and PK-related genes, respectively. The amplified fragments were show n to be specific for each of the target genes by chemiluminescence Sou thern blot hybridisation with a digoxigenin-labelled 20-base internal probe. The optimised CCV PCR assay can be used to amplify TK- and PK-r elated genes in other mammalian and avian herpesviruses. The CCV TK PC R assay also amplified a TK-like gene in some pilchard's gills and tis sues obtained in the recent epizootic of pilchard kills in New Zealand .