2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
Purification and Functional Studies of Surface Protein from Segmented Filamentous Bacteria from Commercial Turkey
Segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) are gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria that colonize the gut. SFBs are naturally found in the small intestine of vertebrates, including humans, mice, rats, chickens, and turkeys, during early periods of life. In the host, SFB induces maturation of immune system partially through development of Th-17 cells, antigen producing B-cells and other immune cells. The Th-17 cells produce cytokines that promote epithelial cell proliferation. Additionally, Th-17 cells upregulate antimicrobial peptides, which provide a defense against pathogens invading the epithelial cells. Significant investigations have been conducted on SFB strains isolated from turkey due to their unique metabolic characteristics and potential pathogen-protective role for these commercially important animals. However, the function of the proteins found on the surface of SFB have not been extensively explored. We are interested in adhesins- bacterial surface proteins important for attachment to the small intestine epithelial cells and potential role in priming immune cells. One such protein is SFB-NYU-003340 (P3340m) isolated from mice-specific SFB. The homolog of this protein in SFB isolated from humans was identified in a protein P00774. In this work, we have identified potential homolog from turkey SFB, P3340T. However, the role of these three homologs from different SFB for bacteria themself is not understood fully. In this study we have cloned a synthetic DNA for P3340t for expression in E. coli and developed a protocol for purification of P3340t. Furthermore, we studied the ability of P3340t to bind the most abundant antimicrobial peptide in the small intestine of commercial turkey in the period when SFB potentially attach to epithelial cells and survive in ileum.