| Project Detail |
Harnessing bioactive anti-parasitic compounds in seaweed to fight livestock gastrointestinal disease
Parasitic nematodes (roundworms) cause gastrointestinal disease in grazing livestock with significant impact on meat and dairy production and associated substantial economic costs. The few currently available drug treatments are only partially effective, and widespread resistance is increasing the difficulty of treatment. Feeding the livestock seaweed, shown in vitro to contain polyunsaturated fatty acids with anti-parasitic activity, could be an innovative solution. However, the mechanisms of action have not been characterised. With the support of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SeaWeedWorm project will investigate how these fatty acids bind to nematode parasites and which receptors are involved, as well as the biological pathways that are perturbed after exposure.
Infection with gastrointestinal parasites is one of the most severe impediments to sustainable meat and milk production from grazing livestock. Widespread resistance to the small number of available synthetic drugs has rendered continued prophylactic drug treatment unsustainable. One solution is to feed animals on plants or other natural resources that contain bioactive compounds with anti-parasitic activity, such as seaweeds. The in vitro anti-parasitic activity of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from seaweeds has been reported, but as yet, the anthelmintic mechanism of PUFAs is unknown. The current proposal aims to use PUFAs from Nordic seaweeds to investigate how PUFAs bind to nematode parasites and target the receptors. Furthermore, transcriptomics and functional biochemical experiments will be used to elucidate the biological pathways that are perturbed in nematodes after exposure to sub-lethal doses of PUFAs in vitro. This unique multidisciplinary project will involve leading groups in both veterinary parasitology and receptor biology and combine the latest techniques in molecular parasitology and drug-receptor biology. It is envisaged that the unique skill sets obtained from the project will be highly beneficial to my future career, as well as uncovering novel insights into the biological properties of PUFAs that will greatly aid the practical future use of PUAFs-containing plants and algae, thus ensuring the continued sustainability of pasture-based livestock production. |
