Scientists from China's mainland and from Taiwan Province have succeeded in sequencing the genome of Salmonella Chorellaeresuis.
Salmonella Chorellaeresuis is a major cause of intestinal diseases. The sequencing of the bacteria's genome revealed 4.9 million base pairs and about 5,000 genes, said Dr. Hu Songnian, leader of the project, who is from the Hangzhou Genome Institute.
Of the 16 million people who fall ill annually from Salmonella Chorellaeresuis, 600,000 die.
Scientists from both sides said they will continue their collaboration on the study of Salmonella Chorellaeresuis during the second half of this year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2003)