ARS | Publication request: BACTERIOCINS AND BACTERIOPHAGE LYTIC PROTEINS FROM RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND USA COLLABORATIONS TO CONTROL ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIAL PATHOGENS

Submitted to: International Poultry Scientific Forum
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 16, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Antibiotic resistant bacteria are becoming a problem for agricultural and human medical use worldwide. Consequently, novel antimicrobials were isolated and characterized in collaborative research between PMSRU, ARS-USDA scientists and representatives of the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (SRCAMB) in Obolensk, Russian Federation. The antimicrobial peptide bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria are effective against several bacterial food-borne pathogens. Treatment of chickens by feeding bacteriocins consistently reduced Campylobacter levels in their gastrointestinal system as compared with levels found in untreated birds. Bacteriocins could be an effective means to lower C. jejuni in poultry prior to processing and reduce food-borne bacterial disease. Screening of bacteriophages lytic for Clostridium perfringens was completed utilizing filtered samples obtained from poultry (intestinal material), soil, sewage and poultry processing drainage water. From the collections highly lytic viruses were isolated and the double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) genomes of the bacteriophages were sequenced to completion. DNA sequencing of six bacteriophage genomes completed at PMSRU and four genomes in collaboration with Russian investigators resulted in identification of unique amidases as well as phage encoded proteins that potentially contain lysozyme and endopeptidase activities. Three recombinant bacteriophage lytic enzyme genes encoding putative amidases have been cloned, their proteins expressed as recombinants and isolated to homogeneity, then demonstrated to lyse C. perfringens. These bacteriocins and phage lytic enzymes may have possibilities for use in agriculture and medical applications as potential replacements for current antibiotics that may have diminished activity.