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The objective of this cooperative research is to develop and use molecular tools to study the mechanisms and functionality of probiotic cultures for reducing foodborne pathogen colonization in poultry.
APPROACH: Recent success using probiotic application to limit colonization of foodborne pathogens in the gastrointestinal tracts of food animals ensures continued commercialization and widespread use of these cultures. However, if further optimization of the effectiveness of defined cultures is to be achieved, methods to assess expression of key metabolic processes occurring during the establishment of the probiotic culture as well as its subsequent ability to limit food borne pathogen colonization are needed. Molecular tools will be used to study individual members of microbial consortia, fluxes in community diversity, spatial distribution of consortia members and the expression of specific microbial genes within communities. Methods will include the utilization of both DNA and RNA targeted probes, gene amplification protocols and mRNA analysis.