Scientists have tested a predatory bacterium — Bdellovibrio — against Salmonella in the guts of live chickens. They found that it significantly reduced the numbers of Salmonella bacteria and, importantly, showed that Bdellovibrio are safe when ingested.
The research, carried out by Professor Liz Sockett’s team in the School of Biology at The University of Nottingham together with Dr Robert Atterbury and Professor Paul Barrow in The University of Nottingham’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Science was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). It has been published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Researcher Dr Laura Hobley said: “Bdellovibrio has the potential to be used as a living antibiotic against some major human and animal pathogens, such as E.coli and other so-called Gram-negative bacteria.”
Previous studies have shown that Bdellovibrio is very effective at invading and killing other bacterial cells in a test tube. It looks likely to provide an alternative to antibiotic medicines at a time when bacterial resistance is a significant problem to human and animal health.
Dr Hobley said: “We think that Bdellovibrio could be particularly useful as a topical treatment for wounds or foot rots but we wanted to know what might happen if it is ingested — either deliberately as a treatment, or by accident.”
Salmonella likes to grow in the guts of poultry and other animals and can cause food poisoning in humans. In laboratory experiments Bdellovibrio can kill Salmonella by breaking into the cells and destroying them from the inside. This research shows that it also works inside the gut of a bird and is safe, not harming them or changing their behaviour.
Bdellovibrio reduced the numbers of Salmonella by 90 per cent and the birds remained healthy, grew well, and were generally in good condition.
Dr Hobley said: “We concluded that Bdellovibrio aren’t long lived in the bird guts — they had a strong effect for about 48 hours, which dropped off after this time. If we were to use this method to completely rid the birds of Salmonella, we might have to test a program of multiple dosing. But the point of this study was really to ensure that Bdellovibrio is safe and effective when ingested.”
Professor Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of the BBSRC, said “Once we have understood the fundamental nature of an extraordinary organism such as Bdellovibrio, it makes sense that we should look at potential uses for it. The impact of bacterial infections on human and animal health is significant and since antibiotic resistance is a major issue, alternatives from nature may become increasingly important.”
Notes to editors:
BBSRC is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences and the largest single public funder of agriculture and food-related research.
Sponsored by Government, BBSRC’s budget for 2011-12 is around £445M which it is investing in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life in the UK and beyond and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders, including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.
BBSRC provides institute strategic research grants to the following:
The Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (Aberystwyth University), Institute of Food Research, John Innes Centre, The Genome Analysis Centre, The Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh) and Rothamsted Research.
The Institutes conduct long-term, mission-oriented research using specialist facilities. They have strong interactions with industry, Government departments and other end-users of their research.
For more information see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk
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