College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

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    Antimicrobial Effect and Probiotic Potential of Phage Resistant Lactobacillus plantarum and its Interactions with Zoonotic Bacterial Pathogens
    (MDPI, 2019-06-05) Nagarajan, Vinod; Peng, Mengfei; Tabashsum, Zajeba; Salaheen, Serajus; Padilla, Joselyn; Biswas, Debabrata
    Development of phage-resistant probiotic particularly Lactobacillus is an alternative approach to enhance their beneficial effects as in animal feed supplements. In this study, we developed phage-resistant Lactobacillus plantarum (LP+PR) mutant and compared their antimicrobial effects and probiotic potential against zoonotic bacterial pathogens including Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes with phage-sensitive L. plantarum (LP) strain. LP+PR strain showed markedly higher growth rate than wild-type LP strain. In co-culture with LP+PR and in the presence of cell-free cultural supernatants (CFCSs) of LP+PR, the growth of S. Typhimurium, EHEC, S. aureus, and L. monocytogenes were reduced significantly (P < 0.05). The adhesion ability of LP+PR was slightly higher than the LP on human epithelial INT-407 cells. Most importantly, LP+PR strain significantly inhibited the adhesive and invasive abilities of all four zoonotic pathogens to INT-407 cells (P < 0.05). Moreover, real-time qPCR revealed that in the presence of LP+PR strain or its CFCSs, expression of virulence genes of these zoonotic bacterial pathogens were suppressed significantly (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the LP+PR strain is capable of inhibiting major zoonotic bacterial pathogens efficiently and would be a potential candidate for industrial usage in animal production or fermentation.
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    Influence of Manure Application on the Soil Bacterial Microbiome in Integrated Crop-Livestock Farms in Maryland
    (MDPI, 2021-12-15) Peng, Mengfei; Tabashsum, Zajeba; Millner, Patricia; Parveen, Salina; Biswas, Debabrata
    As a traditional agricultural system, integrated crop-livestock farms (ICLFs) involve the production of animals and crops in a shared environment. The ICLFs in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States practice sustainable manure aging or composting processes to provide an on-farm source of soil amendment for use as natural fertilizer and soil conditioner for crop production. However, crop fertilization by soil incorporation of aged manure or compost may introduce different microbes and alter the soil microbial community. The aim of this study was to characterize the influence of aged or composted manure application on the diversity of soil bacterial community in ICLFs. Soil samples from six ICLFs in Maryland were collected before (pre-crop) and during the season (2020–2021) and used to analyze soil bacterial microbiome by 16S rDNA sequencing. Results showed that both phylum- and genus-level alterations of soil bacterial communities were associated with amendment of aged or composted manure. Particularly, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were enriched, while Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi were reduced after manure product application. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of Bacillus was decreased, while two zoonotic pathogens, Salmonella and Listeria, were enriched by manure amendments. Overall, animal manure amendment of soil increased the phylogenetic diversity, but reduced the richness and evenness of the soil bacterial communities. Although manure composting management in ICLFs benefits agricultural sustainable production, the amendments altered the soil bacterial communities and were associated with the finding of two major zoonotic bacterial pathogens, which raises the possibility of their potential transfer to fresh horticultural produce crops that may be produced on the manured soils and then subsequently consumed without cooking.
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    Synbiotic-like effect of linoleic acid overproducing Lactobacillus casei with berry phenolic extracts against pathogenesis of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli
    (Springer Nature, 2019-07-27) Tabashsum, Zajeba; Peng, Mengfei; Bernhardt, Cassendra; Patel, Puja; Carrion, Michael; Biswas, Debabrata
    Majority of enteric infections are foodborne and antimicrobials including antibiotics have been used for their control and treatment. However, probiotics or prebiotics or their combination offer a potential alternative intervention strategy for improving the host health and preventing foodborne pathogen colonization/infections in reservoir. Further, bioengineered probiotics expressing bioactive products to achieve specific function is highly desirable. Recently, we over-expressed mcra (myosin cross-reactive antigen) gene in Lactobacillus casei (Lc) and developed a bioengineered probiotics Lc + CLA which produce higher amounts of metabolites including conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Furthermore, we also reported that prebiotic like components such as berry pomace (byproduct) phenolic extracts (BPEs) can enhance the growth of probiotics and improved the beneficial effects of probiotics. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial effect of modified Lc + CLA in combination of BPEs on growth, survival and pathogenesis of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC).
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    BIOACTIVE LACTOBACILLUS CASEI IN REDUCING GROWTH AND COLONIZATION OF CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI
    (2018) Tabashsum, Zajeba; Biswas, Debabrata; Animal Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Campylobacter jejuni (CJ) is one of the pre-dominant causative agents of acute gastroenteritis in the US and occurs commonly through handling/consumption of contaminated poultry products. Probiotics with enhanced bioactive metabolites such as conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) play crucial role in improving host health and act as antimicrobials. Further, prebiotic like components such as bioactive phenolics from berry pomace extract (BPE) can stimulate growth of beneficial microbes including Lactobacillus casei (LC) and inhibit bacterial pathogens in vitro. In this study, we aimed to assess efficiency of CLA overproducing LC (LC+mcra) alone or in presence of BPE against CJ. LC+mcra alone or LC+mcra with BPE reduced CJ growth, adhesion and invasion efficiency to cultured cells and also altered physicochemical properties, gene expressions related to virulence. These findings suggest, BPE and LC+mcra in combination may able to prevent CJ colonization in poultry and reduce cross-contamination, hence control foodborne infections with CJ in human.