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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380221
Research Project: Non-antibiotic Strategies to Control Enteric Diseases of Poultry

Location: Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory

Title: Recombinant Bacillus subtilis carrying NK-lysin gene as an effective mucosal delivery strategy to prevent against avian coccidiosis

Author
item WICKRAMASURIYA, SAMIRU - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item PARK, INKYUNG - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item VAN OOSTERWIJK, JOLIEKE - Us Biologics
item PRZYBYAZEWKI, CHRIS - Us Biologics
item Gay, Cyril
item Lillehoj, Hyun

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/8/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The chicken NK-lysin peptide 2 (cNK-2) is a natural lytic peptide with direct cytotoxicity against apicomplexan parasites such as Eimeria. Developing an effective oral delivery strategy to express cNK-2 in the intestine where Eimeria parasites interact with the host’s gut epithelial cells will reduce the fecundity of parasites and gut damage. Furthermore, cNK-2 modulates gut immune responses to decrease local inflammation elicited by parasite invasion of host cells. Therefore, we developed a stable strain of Bacillus subtilis that carries chicken NK2 peptide (B. subtilis-cNK2) to determine its effectiveness as an oral carrier of NK lysin peptide to the gut and to investigate its effect against coccidiosis infection in commercial broiler chickens. Chickens were allocated into four treatment groups in a completely randomized design: 1) negative control (NC, unchallenged), 2) positive control (PC: challenged without B. subtilis), 3) B. subtilis with empty vector (BSEV), and 4) B. subtilis-cNK2 (BSNK). All birds were challenged with 10,000 sporulated E. acervulina oocysts through oral gavage except the NC group. Chickens given BSEV or BSNK were orally gavaged on day 14, 15 and 16 (1×1010 cfu/mL) followed by oral challenge infection with E. acervulina. Infected chickens treated with BSNK showed improved (p<0.05) growth performance, gut integrity, and lower (p<0.05) oocysts shedding compared to infected and untreated controls. Taken together, this is the first demonstration to show dietary B. subtilis probiotics carrying chicken NK2 peptide can be an effective alternative to antibiotics strategy to reduce harmful effects of avian coccidiosis.