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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324379
Title: Selected antimicrobial peptides inhibit in vitro growth of Campylobacter spp.

Author
item Line, John
item Seal, Bruce
item Garrish, Johnna

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/8/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: none

Technical Abstract: Novel alternatives to traditional antibiotics are urgently needed for food-animal production. A goal of our laboratory is to develop and evaluate antimicrobial peptides (AMP) to control and reduce foodborne pathogens in poultry. AMP have been found in most every class of living organism where they have evolved as a host defense mechanism against invading microorganisms. Our working hypothesis is that AMP can be identified that inhibit the growth of Campylobacter jejuni and subsequently can be utilized to reduce the Campylobacter load among commercially produced chickens. Because of their modes of action, these AMP are much less likely to engender antimicrobial resistance. We chemically synthesized a set of 11 unique AMP and evaluated them for ability to inhibit growth of two strains of C. jejuni. Six of the AMP we tested produced zones of inhibition on lawns of C. jejuni. These AMP included: NRC-13, a variant of Pleurocidin isolated from the American plaice-flounder; RL-37, a 37-residue AMP of the cathelicidin family which is expressed in bone marrow of the rhesus monkey; Temporin, from the frog, Rana temporaria; a potent hybrid AMP composed of residues 1-8 of Cecropin A (from the Cecropia moth) fused to residues 1-12 of Magainin 2 (from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis); Dermaseptin from the skin of frogs of the genus Phyllomedusa; and the synthetic OAK, C12K-2 beta 12. Our next steps are to express AMP in yeast and explore encapsulation technologies to stabilize the AMP for trials involving oral delivery to chickens.