Antibody expressing pea seeds as fodder for prevention of gastrointestinal parasitic infections in chickens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Coccidiosis caused by protozoans of genus <it>Eimeria </it>is a chicken parasitic disease of great economical importance. Conventional disease control strategies depend on vaccination and prophylactic use of anticoccidial drugs. Alternative solution to prevent and treat coccidiosis could be provided by passive immunization using orally delivered neutralizing antibodies. We investigated the possibility to mitigate the parasitic infection by feeding poultry with antibody expressing transgenic crop seeds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the phage display antibody library, we generated a panel of anti-<it>Eimeria </it>scFv antibody fragments with high sporozoite-neutralizing activity. These antibodies were expressed either transiently in agrobacteria-infiltrated tobacco leaves or stably in seeds of transgenic pea plants. Comparison of the scFv antibodies purified either from tobacco leaves or from the pea seeds demonstrated no difference in their antigen-binding activity and molecular form compositions. Force-feeding experiments demonstrated that oral delivery of flour prepared from the transgenic pea seeds had higher parasite neutralizing activity <it>in vivo </it>than the purified antibody fragments isolated from tobacco. The pea seed content was found to protect antibodies against degradation by gastrointestinal proteases (>100-fold gain in stability). <it>Ad libitum </it>feeding of chickens demonstrated that the transgenic seeds were well consumed and not shunned. Furthermore, feeding poultry with shred prepared from the antibody expressing pea seeds led to significant mitigation of infection caused both by high and low challenge doses of <it>Eimeria </it>oocysts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results suggest that our strategy offers a general approach to control parasitic infections in production animals using cost-effective antibody expression in crop seeds affordable for the animal health market.</p

Islamische Stiftungen zwischen juristischer Norm und sozialer Praxis

Die Bedeutung von Stiftungen für die islamisch geprägten Gesellschaften der Vormoderne lässt sich kaum überschätzen. Stiftungen finanzierten an vielen Orten Einrichtungen der Armen- und Krankenfürsorge, religiöse Institutionen und Aufgaben der kommunalen Infrastruktur, sie dienten aber auch als Grundlage für den Zusammenhalt unterschiedlicher sozialer Gruppen. Heute werden Stiftungen im Rahmen der Debatten zu genuin islamischen Finanzinstrumenten wieder stark diskutiert. In den Beiträgen des Bandes wird die islamische Stiftung nicht als eine statische und unflexible Institution islamischen Rechts verstanden. Vielmehr werden einzelne Stiftungsgeschichten untersucht und in ihrem zeitlichen und regionalen Kontext gesehen. Damit stellen die Autoren die soziale Praxis und die Anpassungsfähigkeit des islamischen Stiftungswesens in den Vordergrund

Resistance of Chemokine Receptor 6-Deficient Mice to Yersinia Enterocolitica Infection : Evidence of Defective M-Cell Formation in Vivo

M cells, specialized cells within Peyer’s patches (PPs), are reduced in number in chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6)-deficient mice. The pathogenic microorganism Yersinia enterocolitica exploits M cells for the purpose of mucosal tissue invasion exclusively through PPs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the course of yersiniosis in CCR6-deficient mice and to investigate whether these mice might be used as an in vivo model to determine M-cell function. After oral challenge with Y. enterocolitica, control mice suffered from lethal septic infection whereas CCR6-deficient mice showed very limited symptoms of infection. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated PP invasion by Y. enterocolitica in control mice whereas no bacteria could be found in CCR6-deficient mice. In addition, a significant induction of proinflammatory cytokines could be found in control mice whereas proinflammatory cytokine levels in CCR6-deficient mice remained unchanged. In contrast, intraperitoneal infection resulted in severe systemic yersiniosis in both mouse groups. Abrogated oral Y. enterocolitica infection in CCR6-deficient mice demonstrates the importance of CCR6 expression in the physiological and pathological immune responses generated within PPs by influencing M-cell differentiation, underscoring the important role of M cells in the process of microbial uptake. CCR6-deficient mice may therefore represent a suitable model for the study of M-cell function in vivo