In vitro analysis of the addition of antimicrobial peptide analogues Ctx(Ile21)-Ha on rumen fermentation parameters

• Grant number: 24/20054-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Festozo Vicente
• Grantee: Acsa Thalita Ferreira Pimenta dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Engenharia. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Tupã. Tupã , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/06706-9 - Antimicrobial peptides: expanding the horizons for animal production performance optimization, AP.JP2
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/11732-0 - In vitro analysis of the addition of Ctx(Ile21)-Ha antimicrobial peptide analogues on rumen fermentation parameters using RUSITEC technique, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Several antibiotics used as growth promoters or livestock additives have already been banned in several European countries, the main export market for Brazilian meat. Thus, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), such bans directly impact the livestock sector, demanding new alternatives to increase the productivity of cattle herds. Faced with this new challenge, this project seeks new alternatives and increases studies on the use of natural antibiotics used in animal nutrition for beef cattle. As an alternative proposal, more potent analogues of the antimicrobial peptide Ctx(Ile21)-Há will be used, which, in previous studies, have shown biological activity against bacteria and fungi, due to their ability to permeabilize and destroy the membranes of these microorganisms. To this end, the synthesis of this peptide will be carried out via Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis. This methodology allows obtaining a natural molecule, leaving no residue in the animal that consumes it. Subsequently, the obtained molecule will be applied in vitro, using ruminal fluid, in order to evaluate the fermentation parameters produced, as well as the production of gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, comparing them with monensin, the additive most commonly used in beef cattle. Therefore, an improvement in ruminal fermentation processes is expected due to the population changes of microorganisms promoted by the addition of the Ctx(Ile21)-Ha peptide, a fact that may make this molecule a promising candidate for a new zootechnical additive, efficient and natural in the nutrition of ruminants.