A research team at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) is evaluating how a set of drugs affects Mycoplasma bovis, a bacterium that causes serious health problems in Canadian cattle herds.
"It is the causative agent of pneumonia, and it can also be involved in the development of bovine respiratory disease (BRD), which is sometimes referred to as shipping disease," said Dr. Tony Ruzzini (PhD), the lead researcher of the research project.
Shipping disease is the most common and most expensive disease in the beef cattle industry. The clinical symptoms of Mycobacterium bovis in cattle include cough, shortness of breath, arthritis, runny nose, fever and loss of appetite.
Ruzzini, assistant professor of molecular biology at USask Western Veterinary College (WCVM), is collaborating with Dr. Murray Jelinski (DVM), a beef cattle researcher at WCVM, to "in the absence of a large number of effective antimicrobial drugs (antibiotic drugs) or vaccination."
The bacterial membranes of Mycobacterium bovis are rich in proteins, which are fixed by lipids (fat molecules) called lipoproteins. As Ruzzini pointed out, the structure of Mycoplasma bovis membrane is very different from typical Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria.
"Unfortunately, in this case, many drugs that have been developed to kill bacteria target the membrane. So if you are trying to treat mycoplasma, most of them are actually useless," Ruzzini said.
"Our research is trying to take advantage of the abundance of lipoprotein content, so we are trying to disrupt the maturation of lipoprotein... This may have some different effects. It may kill the cell completely, or all it may do is disrupt the process ."
Ruzzini and his laboratory can then begin to evaluate genes predicted to be lipoproteins, some of which may not even enter the cell membrane of M. bovis. The research team also hopes to screen thousands of drugs to identify molecules that can kill or bind to the Mycobacterium bovis membrane and disrupt the process of lipoprotein maturation.
The goal of the project is to identify a safe compound that is already on the market and can disrupt the maturation of lipoproteins.
The Saskatchewan Agricultural Development Fund provided funding for this research and also received financial support from the Beef Cattle Research Council, Alberta Beef Producers, and the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association (SCA) .
SCA regularly provides financial support for research projects related to the forage and beef cattle industry. Through the SCA Board of Directors, the organization is committed to ensuring that producer funding is used for research projects that help improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the beef cattle industry.
"When we fund research... we want to ensure that beef production is as sustainable as possible for beef producers and the rest of the Saskatchewan population," said SCA beef production expert Marian Posberg. "We want to reduce costs, improve animal welfare and increase environmental sustainability."
Ruzzini believes that his role is to "contribute to solving problems that are mainly determined by industry stakeholders, and then... my team is applying our scientific or research expertise to a problem."
"It's always a good thing to see industry support to reinvest in research, because it's not just about the specific research project being completed," Ruzzini said.
He added that training for all types of students-from undergraduates to post-doctoral fellows-has made a significant contribution to the success of the research project.
"It exposes [students] to applied research that contributes to the overall lifestyle or economic development of Saskatchewan and Prairie Province."
Jessica Colby (Jessica Colby) from Montmartre, Sask, is a journalism student at the University of Regina. In 2021, she will serve as a summer research exchange intern at WCVM.
The main campus of the University of Saskatchewan is located in the 6th Treaty Territory and the homeland of the Métis people.
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