ATA Research Capacity
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Alternatives to Antibiotics Available Technologies
(Listed below are research areas ARS scientist are working in for the development of Alternatives to Antibiotics)
Plant |
||
“Biologically Based Management Strategies for Control of Soil-Borne Pathogens of Ornamental Crops as an Alternative to Methyl Bromide Pre-Plant Soil Fumigation” “Research on potential use of bacteriophage as alternatives to antibiotics and copper-based bactericides to control Bacterial diseases of tomato and ornamentals” |
||
| “Research is on fire blight of apple and pear, with emphasis on biological control as an alternative to antibiotics” “improving the formulation of the bacterial biocontrol agent, Pantoea agglomerans strain E325, which is primarily adapted to the flower stigma where the disease organism (Erwinia amylovora) becomes established” Dr. P. Lawrence Pusey http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=4549 |
||
“Plant-based antimicrobials for ruminants” |
||
| Working on use of natural compounds to augment efficacy of antifungal agents (antimycotics) “experimenting with natural compounds, mainly found in plants and spices we consume, that undermine the stress response systems of fungi” Dr. Bruce Campbell http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=850 |
||
“Plant microbiomes, and in them find complex microbiomes that contain many taxa that are genetically similar to rumen, intestinal, and fecal microbes. These microbes are crucial to both plant and animal nutritional health” |
||
“Bacterial diseases of plants, including seeking alternatives to antibiotics” |
||
Aquaculture |
||
“Production of transgenic rainbow trout carrying a pick cecropin P1 transgnen” |
||
“Focus is on the discovery of natural compounds (not antibiotics) from plants that could be used to manage common channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) diseases” |
||
“Conduct research on the fish disease columnaris” |
||
“Isolating novel phages against Vibrio tubiashii, a significant pathogen to larval shellfish” |
||
| “Effort to breed rainbow trout for disease resistance, specifically against an isolate of Flavobacterium psychrophilum that causes bacterial cold water disease” Drs. Greg Wiens, http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=34263 |
||
“Bacteriophage therapeutics that target Yersinia ruckeri, the causative agent for enteric redmouth disease in rainbow trout” |
||
“Identify host/fish defense genes in response to bacterial infections, clone the defense genes, and then put them back to the host/fish to see the protection, including known natural antimicrobial peptides and some novel proteins; Also develop vaccines against bacterial pathogens as the alternatives to antibiotics” |
||
Animal |
||
“Molecular Approaches for the Characterization of Foodborne Pathogens in Poultry” |
||
“Develop a strategy for reducing drug resistance in S. aureus by identifying antimicrobial peptides that exhibit alternative modes of action” |
||
“Develop immune reagents to detect host effector molecules controlling immune responses and determine the role of host effector molecules in disease resistance to discover biological determinants associated with disease resistance to infectious diseases of poultry” |
||
“Immune modulators (host cytokines) that impact the innate immune system in a manner that might serve as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics as a means to control clinical and subclinical disease” Drs. Marcus E. Kehrli, Jr., Susan Brockmeier, Crystal Loving, Kelly Lager, Kay Faaberg |
||
“Novel therapeutic, diagnostic, and management strategies to reduce antibiotic use in poultry production” “the role of the stress response in susceptibility to opportunistic |
||
“Developed an attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium vaccine that can be administered to food producing animals to decrease Salmonella colonization and clinical disease” |
||
“Primary focus has been on providing dietary supplements such as yeast products, plant-derived products, and even chromium as a means to enhance the innate immune response in weaned pigs and receiving cattle” |
||
“Bioactive feed additives to improve poultry product quality” |
||
“Efficacy of lysozyme as an alternative to antibiotics” |
||
“Project on developing vaccines to replace anti-coccidial drugs” |
||
“The role of vitamin D during infections” (Dairy Mastitis) |
||
“Research on novel prebiotics and anti-adhesive oligosaccharides to prevent infections in animals and humans” |
||
“Determine if Caprylic acid reduced Salmonella Enteritidis or Campylobacter in birds before being infected (prophylactic efficacy) or after colonization (therapeutic efficacy)” |
||
“Non-antibiotic approach to reduce colonization of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in livestock, particularly in swine” “use compounds or enzymes to disrupt or inhibit the ability of these bacteria to form biofilms” |
||
“Evaluating the efficacy of sodium chlorate as an oral prophylactic treatment for reducing the occurrence of bacterial-induced neonatal diarrhea in livestock systems” |
||
“Develop selection tools to identify animals less susceptible to Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD)” “reduce reliance on antibiotics used in the feedlot to treat and prevent BRD” |
||
“Selection of turkey lines for increased immune functions/pathogen resistance” |
||
“Use of interferons to protect poultry against avian influenza, both high and low pathogenic forms of the virus” |
||
“Convey immunity to calves arriving at a feedlot to the (strains of) pathogens that are most prevalent at that specific feedlot” Dr. Mark Thallman http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=11218 |
||
Food Safety |
||
“Investigating the use of beta-glucan from yeast cell-walls with ascorbic acid in combination with probiotics as potential antibiotic alternatives” “Additionally, studying the use of cranberry products as antibiotic alternatives prior to and during production stressors” |
||
Work deals with the impact of colibacillosis on colonization of poultry with Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Campylobacter, and developing non-antibiotic alternatives to decrease colonization |
||
“Alternative Intervention and Control Strategies for Foodborne Pathogens in Poultry and Poultry Products” “Work deals with the impact of colibacillosis on colonization of poultry with Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Campylobacter, and developing non-antibiotic alternatives to decrease colonization. |
||
“Using bacteriophages against E. coli O157:H7 on lettuce” |
||
“Studies on antimicrobial activities of large number of plant-derived compounds against foodborne pathogens, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria” |
||
“Study the capacity of dairy fermentation lactic cultures for useful and/or novel functions (enzymes and metabolites), including the production of natural antimicrobial peptides (bacteriocins) in food systems. The anticipated functions of these peptides includes the protection of foods against spoilage and/or pathogenic bacteria” |
||
“Selective breeding for parasite resistance and susceptibility to intestinal nematodes” |
||
“Development of chlorate as a viable feed additive to reduce colonization of food production animals by Salmonella and E. coli” “to use pharmaceutically active secondary plant compounds as potential non-antibiotic interventions” |
||
“Discovery and application potential of natural antimicrobials produced by bacteria associated with dairy foods and in some cases, dairy animals” |
||
“Engineered R-Type Pyocin Is a Highly Specific and Sensitive Bactericidal Agent for the Food-Borne Pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7” Dr. Robert Mandrell http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=3555 |
||
| Other | ||
“Breeding bees for resistance to biotic threats -- principally parasitic mites” |
||
“Investigated several ‘chemical’ substitutions and diet consistencies (i.e., semi-solid and solid) as alternatives to the use of antibiotics for insect diets” |
||
“Systematics, taxonomy, and organismal biology of fungi that are pathogenic for insects and other invertebrates” |
||
“Bacteriophage and their cognate lytic enzymes with antibacterial activity are potential alternatives to antibiotics for controlling contamination in fuel ethanol production” |
||
“Microbial interactions linked to effectors, and quorum sensing of insect microbes” “working to characterize specialized protein secretion systems in Insect-associated, and Plant-associated bacteria – which includes the type III secretion system” |
||
“Artificial insect diets” |
||
“Synthesis and characterization of a delivery system made from two biopolymers: pectin, and zein” “P40 released from pectin/zein beads prevented cytokine-induced apoptosis in intestinal epithelial cells and ameliorated chronic inflammation in oxazolone-induced colitis” |
||
This Year's Sponsors
