Dairy niche adaptation by bovine mastitis pathogens: novel targets for control

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Mastitis (infection of the mammary gland) is an important animal welfare issue and a major economic burden on the global dairy industry. Treatment with antibiotics is often ineffective due to bacterial biofilm formation, intra-cellular survival and antibiotic resistance. Alternatives to antibiotics are urgently needed but rational design of new therapeutic approaches requires improved mechanistic understanding of how bacteria cause disease. An array of bacterial pathogens can cause bovine mastitis including some that are adapted to survive and transmit in the dairy environment. For example, we have discovered that several major mastitis pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus agalactiae demonstrate enhanced growth associated with the ability to induce curdling in milk, and produce a milk-dependent biofilm phenotype. Of note, these phenotypes are not shared with human S. aureus or S. agalactiae isolates consistent with dairy niche adaptation. Here, using a combination of population level and molecular functional techniques, we will investigate key mechanisms supporting the ability of S. aureus to survive and proliferate within the dairy environment. In particular, we will dissect the basis for a novel milk-dependent biofilm phenotype, and investigate its relevance to pathogenesis and resilience to antibiotic treatment. The study will reveal key biological pathways and/or components required by bovine S. aureus to survive in the dairy environment which could represent novel targets for control of infection. The potential for therapeutic targeting of dairy adaptive traits for control of mastitis will be investigated using a specific antibody approach and novel anti-biofilm agents produced by other bacterial species that inhabit the dairy bovine microbiota.