Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Donaldson, Janet R.

Committee Member

Thornton, Justin A.

Committee Member

Carroll, Jeffery A.

Date of Degree

12-11-2015

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

Yeast probiotics and paraprobiotics, live and inactivated yeast cells, respectively, improve health and performance of livestock by stabilizing the intestinal microbial community. They have also been used for infection prevention and treatment. Despite much research already conducted, the mechanism of direct antagonism, or adhesion of bacteria to the probiotic/paraprobiotic, is under characterized. Additionally, it is unknown which probiotic/paraprobiotic is optimal to use for specific infections. The interactions between the yeast and certain pathogens were analyzed qualitatively with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and quantitatively with membrane filtration assays. Gram-positive bacteria were found to exhibit specificity under SEM. Through membrane filtration, Listeria monocytogenes exhibited binding to all samples (P<0.05), while Salmonella Typhimurium exhibited binding (P<0.001) with all samples except with 2338. Escherichia coli O157:H7 only bound to the probiotics (P<0.001). With a better understanding of how specific yeast probiotics and paraprobiotics interact with bacteria, specific therapies can be administered to combat infections.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20377

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