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Escherichia coli strains are often observed in high titres in the faeces of humans and mice suffering from Salmonella typhimurium diarrhea. Now scientists at ETH Zurich have isolated such an “overgrowing” commensal E.coli strain (DSM21844) from a mouse with S. typhimurium diarrhea. They subsequently verified its capacity to eliminate S. typhimurium from the gut of an infected animal, showing this strain can be used for treating Salmonella-infections and/or preventing spread in humans or in animal herds.
The scientists say that during treatment of an infected individual with the probiotic, gene transfer is likely to occur. In addition, natural selection will automatically enhance the growth of those clones that have acquired beneficial additional genetic information.
The clones with improved properties can be isolated easily from the faeces of the treated individual. The procedure is safe and does not require genetic manipulation of the probiotic. All genetic changes in the probiotic can be mapped by resequencing thereafter.
Features and benefits include:
Elimination of Salmonella in the intestine by introducing a competitive E. coli strain
Strain improvement by natural gene transfer and natural selection
Safe procedure without gene technology
The experimental strategy can be used to isolate novel commensals with therapeutic capacity against any enteropathogen of interest
The probiotic is expected to provide a new veterinary therapy for E. Coli prevention in poultry, cattle and swine, and may have human applications. A patent is pending.
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