Location: Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research
Project Number: 5030-31320-005-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Dec 16, 2020
End Date: Sep 8, 2021
Objective:
1. Characterize the microbiome of swine and turkeys and investigate the effects of antibiotics and non-antibiotic feed additives on the expression and transmission of virulence, fitness or antimicrobial resistance genes in intestinal microbial populations.
a. Determine the effects of industry-relevant antibiotics on the swine and turkey gut microbiotas and host gut tissues.
b. Test the efficacy of novel probiotics as non-antibiotic feed additives to improve gut health.
2. Assess the interaction of the intestinal immune system and commensal bacteria in swine and turkeys to determine how the microbiota or foodborne pathogens affect tissue innate immunity and acquired immunity, and evaluate non-antibiotic feed additives as an effective strategy to control colonization by foodborne pathogens.
a. Characterize the host response to Campylobacter spp. colonization and subsequent changes in intestinal microbiota.
b. Test whether microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids (e.g., butyrate and proprionate) are involved in development of Treg cells in turkeys.
3. Evaluate environmental and host influences on gut bacterial ecological niches and foodborne pathogen control strategies, including vaccines, on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of foodborne pathogens.
a. Identify microbes that initially colonize turkey poults following hatching and evaluate how host development interacts with microbiota succession through the 14-week growth cycle.
b. Develop and test novel mucosal vaccines for efficacy against Campylobacter spp. challenged turkeys.
Approach:
The research addresses food safety at the first link in the food production chain, namely the food-producing animals on the farm. The research investigates the bacterial communities and the animal’s immune response in the intestinal tract, as well as the interactions between them that lead to health and food safety. Experiments are planned to: 1) examine the environmental, microbial, and immunological factors affecting Campylobacter colonization of turkeys by challenging gnotobiotic and conventional turkey poults with Campylobacter after a different dietary amendments and examining the resulting immune response and Campylobacter colonization; 2) investigate collateral effects of therapeutic antimicrobials on animal intestinal bacterial populations by administering antibiotics to young pigs or turkey poults and monitoring their microbiota and immune response over time, and gut tissues at necropsy; 3) define the bacterial and immunological events during initial colonization of the intestinal tract in newly-born piglets and turkeys by monitoring the bacterial colonization of the gut and the immune responses that ensue; 4) examine novel, antibiotic-free intervention strategies to improve animal health and to reduce foodborne pathogen carriage in animals by developing a vaccine against Campylobacter and by administering novel prophylactic treatments to pigs to prevent Salmonella Typhimurium colonization. This basic research will supply knowledge and tools in support of applied research to control foodborne pathogens.
