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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #71630
Title: PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES TO A VEILLONELLA SPECIES FROM A CONTINUOUS-FLOW CULTURE SYSTEM OF CHICKEN CECAL BACTERIA

Author
item Young, Colin
item Nisbet, David
item Stanker, Larry
item DELOACH, JOHN - 6202-30-10

Submitted to: Anaerobe
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/3/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Food poisoning of poultry meat by bacteria continues to be a health concern for the public at large. Young chicks, of a few days in age, are particularly prone to harboring the bacteria that cause such food poisoning. However, one way to prevent such food poisoning is to feed young chickens safe bacteria derived from healthy adult birds. Such treated chicks can now exclude the bacteria that cause food poisoning. Using specialized blood proteins, we have been able to identify some of the bacteria, from adult birds, that are important in excluding other bacteria that cause food poisoning. These findings are important for the industry, producer, and consumer since we can now identify which bacteria play a critical role in determining resistance to food poisoning bacteria. Ultimately these findings can lead to a healthier, more wholesome food product for the consumer.

Technical Abstract: Administering native intestinal flora to newly hatched chicks protects against cecal Salmonella colonization, and is known as competitive exclusion. Continuous-flow culture systems have been used to maintain defined competitive exclusion cultures. We have recently demonstrated that such a stable continuous-flow culture, CF3, contains 29 bacterial strains representing 10 genera. Broiler chicks treated with CF3 are protected against Salmonella colonization of the ceca. Such protection is correlated with elevated concentrations of propionic acid in the cecal contents of treated chicks. In this study, we report on the preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies to one of the propionic acid producing anaerobes contained in CF3, namely Veillonella CF3. Five different monoclonal antibodies were characterized with respect to (1) isotype, (2) Veillonella specificity as judged by cross-reactivity profiles with other bacteria, (3) sensitivity as measured by the limit of detection of the number of colony forming units of Veillonella, and (4) antigen recognition of Veillonella by Western Blot analysis. These antibodies have been used to enumerate Veillonella in both the CF3 cultures and in the ceca of young chicks.