In order to better understand the mechanisms that encourage colonization of chickens’ intestinal tracts by these dangerous bacteria and find strategies to treat the infection they cause, a team of researchers in Brazil working with funding from FAPESP developed mutant versions of Salmonella.
Scientific Reports has released an article about the findings. Contrary to predictions, the mutant strains produced more serious infections than wild-type bacteria, the researchers observe in the study.
The pduA and ttrA genes were eliminated in the mutant strains. Both genes had been demonstrated in earlier studies using mice to account for Salmonella’s capacity to survive in an environment devoid of oxygen, favoring intestine colonization and dissemination in a production environment.She received a technical training scholarship from FAPESP, and she is now working on her doctoral dissertation at the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences (FCAV-UNESP) of So Paulo State University in Jaboticabal.
“The genetic machinery of Salmonella is sufficient to allow it to adapt its behavior in response to both hosts [commercial poultry] and other bacteria that coexist in the same environment as it. It discovered new survival strategies and grew even more harmful to birds when these two genes were deleted “Mauro Saraiva, a postdoctoral fellow at FCAV-UNESP and the study’s leader, was the second author of the article.
The results highlight the significance of implementing animal health precautions from hatching through slaughter, as well as providing care during meat transportation .According to Berchieri Junior, few food-borne human infections have been detected in Brazil, but consumers should not neglect proper food conservation and hygiene. “The Salmonella serotypes known to cause food-borne diseases don’t always make a person sick. Although there are other important routes for these bacteria to be introduced into poultry farms, the greatest danger occurs when very young chicks are exposed, as their immune system isn’t fully formed,” he said.
In these cases, fecal excretion lasts longer and causes more extensive contamination of the chicken shed. As a result, more infected birds are transported to the slaughterhouse. Most contamination of carcasses (chickens ready for sale) occurs during this stage.
