Feed additives discovery

Since the discovery of penicillin, an enormous number of antibiotic compounds have been isolated. They have found uses both in treatment of human disease and in various aspects of agriculture, including treatment of animal and plant diseases, and as feed additives to promote growth of animals. Some antibiotics such as tylosin were developed specifically for agricultural use. 

Semduramicin (Figure 1) is a new potent monocarboxylic polyether antibiotic with antimicrobial and anticoccidial activity (5). It is comparable to several widely used polyether antibiotics (6)y including the commercialized anticoccidial feed additives monesin, salinomycin, lasalo-cid, narasin and maduramicin. The discovery of semduramicin arose from an effort to identify fermentation-derived products for the treatment of coccidiosis in poultry (5). It is obtained from a fermentation of a mutated strain of Actinomadura roseorufa (7),... 

Additionally it has been our experience that mass spectrometry as a routine detection/identification technique for bacteria is not well received by microbiologists and clinicians who prefer less expensive, less complicated approaches to bacterial typing and identification, such as methods based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). For that reason we have adapted our MS approach to serve as a means of biomarker discovery that feeds candidate proteins or leads into development as PCR targets or other immunoassay techniques. 

The discovery of peripheral oscillators in mammals has raised the question of how the SCN master pacemaker synchronizes these subsidiary clocks. Current evidence suggests that feeding time is the dominant eitgeber for most peripheral oscillators. The molecular mechanisms involved in food-dependent phase resetting are not yet understood, and deciphering the signalHng pathways involved will probably require many additional years of intense genetic and biochemical research. 

Investigation of by-products or wastes as binders may result in the discovery of cheap and very acceptable additives. For example, molasses, a by-product of sugar making, is an excellent and nutritionally beneficial binder for animal feed and organic wastes can be incorporated in fertilizers as nutrient and binder. 

The key to an effective process lies with the discovery of a suitable solvent. In addition to being nontoxic, inexpensive, and easily recoverable, a good solvent should be relatively immiscible with feed components(s) other than the solute and have a different density. It must have a very high affinity for the solute, from which it should be easily separated by distillation, crystallization, or other means. 

The impetus that stimulated scientific interest in myco-toxins evolved from the death of 100,000 turkey poults at 500 locations in England in 1960, which led to the discovery by British scientists of aflatoxin (a toxic metabolite of the fungus Aspergillus flavus Link ex Fr.) in the peanut meal fraction of the feed (2,3). Research soon demonstrated that aflatoxin is possibly the most potent, naturally occurring carcinogen ever utilized in animal studies (4). In addition, it can cause acute aflatoxicosis in animals and humans a case of the latter was cited in a CAST report (5). 

Following the discovery of the favourable properties of CLA, several attempts have been made to increase its level in animal products with the addition of different plant oils and marine oils. Studies conducted on the CLA enrichment of the milk and meat ruminants have been reviewed by Collomb et al. (2006) and Schmid et al. (2006), respectively. Several types of plant oils (sunflower, peannt, soybean, canola and linseed oil) were used successfully to achieve significant increase in the CLA content of milk. Sunflower oil was found to be more effective than peanut or linseed oil (Kelly, Berry, et al., 1998 Collomb, Sieber, Butikofer, 2004 Collomb, Sollberger, et al., 2004) and the use of soybean oil as a supplement also has been shown to be more advantageous than feeding linseed oil (Dhiman et al., 2000). The addition of fish oil was more effective than addition of plant oils (Chilliard, Ferlay, Mansbridge, Doreau, 2000). 

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