Newly Characterized Naturally Occurring Molecule Offers New Approach to Dealing with Multiple Infections in Swine

A researcher with the University of Saskatchewan says a newly characterized naturally occurring molecule offers a new approach to dealing with bacterial, viral and other infections in swine.A team of researchers from the University of Saskatchewan, with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund and RDAR, has identified a bacteria-killing molecule that enhances the immune response of the pig to various infections.

Dr. Matheus Costa, an Associate Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and an adjunct professor with Utrecht University, says this naturally occurring peptide or protein is very small, made up of about 30 amino acids, and it does have antimicrobial properties as well as other properties that enhance the immune response of the pig.

Quote-Dr. Matheus Costa-Western College of Veterinary Medicine:

To give you an example, we talk about staphylococcus, we talk about streptococcus and this molecule has multiple different ways of dealing with them.Some of these bacteria, for example, are directly killed.The molecule will disrupt the cells and kill those bacteria.Some others, such as streptococcus, it doesn't seem to be able kill the bacteria but what it does is it agglutinates the cell.

It essentially picks them up, puts them all together in a place and gets them stuck so the cells cannot invade the body and it makes it much much easier for the pig to clean up that infection.We are learning that it seems to have an effect on viruses, which are a wildly different microorganisms than bacteria.
It's really hard to say which ones specifically.It just seems have a broad range of impacts and spans beyond just bacteria.We are still trying to clarify all of the potential targets we could be using with this molecule.

Dr. Costa notes, unlike some antibiotics, the response of this single molecule is not specific to one pathogen but is more broad and, at the same time, it plays a role in modulating the pig's response to the pathogen so it doesn't feel the effects of the infection as much and it affects both bacteria and viruses and may also work against fungal infections.