Patent Application: US-201113300271-A

Abstract:
the present product corresponds to a new strain of bacillus subtilis nrrlb - 50213 which produces secondary metabolites , bioactive substances and biodegrading enzymes . this strain of bacteria and / or its derivatives has / have the capacity to form functional feeds with high starch and / or soy flour content , as well as inhibiting the growth of pathogenic microorganisms . functional feeds formulated with the nrrlb - 50213 strain and high concentrations of vegetable flours have the capacity to generate growth , weight gain and survival equal to or greater than those generated by feeds which contain high fish flour or other animal protein content . included in this invention are methods and formulas which increase growth , weight gain and survival percentage , since the decomposition and assimilation of formulated functional nutrients based on vegetable flour and the nrrlb - 50213 strain of bacillus subtilis are improved and maximized . in addition to this , the functional feeds employed in this product protect animals , since they prevent the occurrence of diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms

Description:
the characteristic details of the present invention are clearly shown in the following description and in the accompanying figures and tables . bacillus subtilis is the best - characterized member of the gram - positive bacteria . its genome consists of 4 , 214 , 810 base pairs ( kunst et al ., 1997 ). it is aerobic , in the shape of a cane , and in adverse conditions it sporulates . it is commonly found in soil and water , and in association with plants and animals ( arellano and olmos , 2002 ; garcia and olmos , 2007 ). it is an important source of industrial enzymes such as amylases , proteases and lipases ( ochoa and olmos , 2006 ). it produces a large quantity of natural antimicrobes against fungi and bacteria ( sonnenschein et al . 1993 ). b . subtilis has been used as a host in the production of heterologous proteins ( olmos and contreras , 2003 ). b . subtilis has attracted a lot of attention due to its safety and innocuousness and is considered a “ generally recognized as safe ( gras )” organism , for plants , animals and humans , by the food and drug administration ( fda ) ( westers , et . al , 2004 ). isolation and phenotypical identification of the b . subtilis nrrl b - 50213 strain . for the isolation and selection of strains of b . subtilis of importance for the field of nutrition , 50 soil samples , collected in the region of baja california , mexico , were used . the samples collected were treated by the spore - selection method and cultivated in petri boxes with luria bertani ( lb ) for 24 hours at 37 ° c . ( sonnenschein et al ., 1993 ). the colonies were phenotypically sorted and their enzymatic activities were measured in agar plates which were heated to 37 ° (“ incubadas a 37 ° c .) for 24 hours . from the colonies which were cultivated , samples were taken of each that had different phenotypical and enzymatic characteristics ( proteases , lipases and carbohydrases ) and these were tinted with gram &# 39 ; s tincture the isolated strains were cultivated in flasks with lb media at 300 rpm , at 37 ° c . for 12 hours . chromosomal dna was extracted and purified using the phenol - choroformal and ethanol method ( sambrook et . al , 1989 ). the 16s rdna gene was amplified by the pcr technique , using the following reaction conditions : genomic dna , first universal 16sf and a first specific for bacillus ( arellano and olmos , 2002 ). the pcr products of selected strains b , c and h were purified in our laboratory and sequenced at the san diego state university microchemical core facility . finally , the sequences were compared with known sequences and registered at the gene bank of the national center for biotechnology information ( ncbi ) ( http :// www . ncbi . nlm . nig . gov /). strain b was identified as b . subtilis containing a likeness equal to 98 %. strains c and h were identified as b . megaterium , with a 95 % likeness . the sequenced bacteria were preserved at − 70 ° c . in 2 ml cryovials . the genus bacillus secrets a significant amount of enzymes , among which are carbohydrases , proteases and lipases , which can aid in the digestion of carbohydrates , proteins and lipids , respectively ( ochoa and olmos , 2006 ). in the case of carbohydrates , b . subtilis strain nrrl b - 50213 and the carbohydrates it produces , improved the digestibility of the starch that comes from different vegetable flours ( table 1 ). maximizing the breakdown and assimilation of starch represents a healthy solution , of economical importance , in animal feeding , since it would eliminate the toxic effects of starch and at the same time diminish the amount of fish flour and / or animal protein added to commercial formulas ( ochoa and olmos , 2006 ). in table 1 the results in terms of starch breakdown are presented in regard to the selected strains , using different vegetable flours . in this table it can be observed that strains b , c and h present the largest breakdown area , which indicates their great capacity to digest starch . considering that the flour most commonly used in animal food is wheat flour , strain b was selected for its subsequent cultivation and testing . in order to find out the type of carbohydrolases present in the strains , specific substrates were used to identify alpha glucocidase and alpha galactocidase enzymes . table 2 shows that the b ( nrrlb - 50213 ) strain subject to this patent produces alpha 1 - 4 and alpha 1 - 5 glucocidase enzymes . furthermore , this strain also has the capability to flow with melobiose and rafinose with alphagalactoside links . these results demonstrate that the nrrl b - 50213 strain can break down starch and carbohydrates considered as anti - nutritional that can be found in soy flour . the aforementioned suggests that by adding the nrrl b - 50213 strain to food , better breakdown of the carbohydrates found in vegetable flours can be achieved and , as a result , more energy will be available to the animal . this means a decrease in feeding costs and higher growth . this is due to the reduction of the protein consumption to obtain energy ( pascual et al ., 2004a ). this way , the concentrations of inexpensive energy sources such as starch may be increased ; this is because , in principle , there would be no toxic effects for the animal ( ochoa y olmos , 2006 ). the capability of the nrrl b - 50213 strain to produce enzymes such as protease , carbohydrolases and lipases allows the strain to be utilized for several purposes in the same food . the quantity and quality of the protein in a diet is a key factor for animal growth . before , in animal farming , the protein used primarily came from fish meal ; however , the scarcity and high cost of fish meal have limited its usage greatly . soy flour as a protein source is restricted due to the anti - nutrients and allergic proteins contained in it . this makes the digestion of soy flour harder and it is a cause of health problems in animals . for this reason soy flour is to be or should be added in concentrations not greater than 20 % in food . in this way , the results in chart 3 show that the nrrl b - 50213 strain has the capability of degrading high concentrations of soy and fishmeal . therefore , this strain may enhance the digestive system of the animal by helping the animal to digest and , in consequence , to assimilate proteins regardless of where they came from . this would generate higher animal growth and fattening by using the same amount of animal or vegetable protein , added to the food . besides supporting the degradation of carbohydrates and proteins , the nrrl b - 50213 strain that is the subject of this invention showed an excellent capability of assisting in the degradation of lipids of both animal and vegetable origin ( chart 3 ). the above could mean that the inclusion of the nrrl b - 60213 strain in feeds could increase the digestion and assimilation capability of the lipids consumed by the animals . this would generate a greater energy amount available with the same amount of lipids , regardless of the source and , as a consequence , a decrease in feeding costs . because of the results shown above , the b strain was deposited in the agricultural research service ( ars ) patent culture collection of the united states of america on the 20 th day of january of 2009 , under the international treaty of budapest for patent purposes . this strain received access number nrrl - b0213 , whose features are the following : it was classified as bacillus subtilis by sequentiation of its 16s ( dna , is gram (+)), it shows a bacillary form and has a lateral endospore . the colonial morphology of the strain is furrowed , has irregular edges and it an opaque white color . the strain , during its exponential growth , shows a chain growth , however during the stationary phase it shows an individual bacillary form . for this invention , high concentrations of vegetable flour were used as a source of carbohydrate and protein with higher levels than those digestible and assimilable by animals . it is important to mention that when the nrrl b 50213 strain was supplemented with several formulations , positive effects were reflected as improvement in growth , weight gain and survival percentage . for this reason , the animals fed with higher concentrations of vegetable flour and sufficient amount of the mix or the new strain of b . subtilis nrrl b 50213 , were those that showed better performance . the procedure followed for the formulation was to mix the ingredients and then add the bacterial strains , or if using a commercial formulation , by adding the nrrl b50213 strain only . the feeding formulas were dried at 70 ° c . for 24 hours , until humidity was 10 %. there are reports that carnivorous fish are not able to digest starch in concentrations higher than 12 % for this generates serious health problems in these animals . the carnivorous fish that were used were farmed as follows : 300 hundred fish were selected at random and were distributed in pools . the fish were fed with a basic diet containing varying concentrations of starch and the nrrl b - 50213 strain ( chart 4 ). fish were fed 3 times per day until apparent satiety and the experiment lasted 8 weeks . table 5 shows the growth parameters of white sea bass ( atractoscion nobilis ). the dp22 experimental diet of higher starch percentage had the best results for the fish parameters . therefore , it is demonstrated that nrrl b - 502213 strain , when added to starch diets at percentages greater than 12 %, does increase the degradation and assimilation of this complex carbohydrate in carnivorous fish and results in significant benefits in all the evaluated parameters . these results show that the nrrl b 59213 strain considerably improved the degradation and assimilation of carbohydrates , protein and lipids contained in the diet ; which was expected due the excellent results obtained in the experiments performed in - vitro ( charts 1 , 2 y 3 ). in this work , the more starch was added to the diet the better were the results obtained for the physiological and physical parameters ; this means that with the formula and the nrrl b - 50213 strain , the fish were able to digest and assimilate higher concentrations of starch with no problems . ( chart 5 ). with our formulation , the animal is using starch as a source of energy instead of protein as generally occurs with conventional feeds . for this reason , the protein added to these feeds is exclusively intended for animal growth and not to supply energy requirements ; because of this , growth and weight gain were very significant . this makes the strain and / or the mix , when used in an effective amount , a good alternative for the degradation and assimilation of starch in levels greater than 12 %, which was impossible in the past . besides improving the degradation of lipids and proteins of the diet , the strain improved the use of the nutrients by the animal . due to these results , adding fishmeal to carnivorous fish diets may be reduced and the use of carbohydrates such as starch and other complex polysaccharides may be increased , as they are contained in vegetable flours , provided that they are supplemented with the nrrl - b0213 strain which aids in the degradation and assimilation of food and boosts growth , weight gain and survival rate of the animal . in order to demonstrate that the nrrl - b - 50213 strain has the same capability to maximize the degradation and assimilation of starch in shrimp for carnivorous fish , simulations where performed using shrimp of the most important culture . chart 6 shows the approximate composition of the diets used . commercial food was used as the control diet and a formulation of soy flour and starch created for this project , added to the nrrl b - 50213 strain . it is worth mentioning that the level of starch of our formula reached 50 % of the total weight , while the recommended concentration for shrimp food is 20 % ( pascual et al , 2004a ). likewise , it is important to point out that in our formula , all protein used was from soy flour ; for this reason fish flour was not used , as opposed to the commercial diet . we were able to prove that the composition of carbohydrates in the commercial diet surpasses the 20 % recommended , but still it contained ten units less than our formula ( chart 6 ). food was consumed by shrimp 3 times a day , within a period of 2 months . chart 7 shows how , even though all formulas produced an increase of weight , the formula containing nrrl b - 50213 produced the best results . additionally , the food conversion factor ( fca ) was decreased with respect to commercial food and a significant effect was created in the survival percentage . the results shown below prove that the nrrl b - 50213 strain is a practical and effective solution for the use of inexpensive vegetal flours as an energy and protein source for shrimp , decreasing production expenses caused by food . the results of charts 5 and 7 show that the nrrl b - 50213 strain and the formulas used are effective to improve growth , weight gain and percentage of survival , since they are an innovation and have an inventive activity since , to this date , there are no strains and formulas reported with this characteristics , that generate these benefits in carnivorous fish and shrimp . fish and shrimp farms using formulas containing high concentrations of soy flour and / or starch and the nrrl b - 50213 strain , improved their physiological and immunological parameters , when compared to those that were treated with commercial food or basal diet without the nrrl b - 50213 strain . chart 8 shows the levels of glucose , lactate , cholesterol and hemocites for shrimp and ; glucose , red cells and hemoglobin for sea bass . in this chart it may be seen that all the parameters observed , were increased with the diets that containing high concentrations of vegetal flours and nrrl b - 50213 strain , which was very positive for growth , increase of weight and survival ( chart 5 and 7 ). increase of energy sources and immunology parameters for white shrimp and white sea bass . in light of the above , the nrrl b - 50213 strain and our formulas are an innovation , since beyond of improving growth and weight gain , they increase the energy sources in the animal causing proteins to be used for growth and not as sources of energy . in addition , the increase of the immunology parameters improved their resistance to illnesses produced by pathogen microorganisms and increased their percentage of survival ( charts 5 , 7 and 8 ). inhibition of pathogen bacteria on fish and shrimp , using the nrrl b - 50213 strain in solid means , opportunist pathogens were grown that are common to fish and shrimp ( aeromones sp and vibiro sp ), against which the aliquot of the strain nrrl b - 50213 were proven . chart 9 , shows that the nrrl b - 50213 strain , subject matter of this patent was able to inhibit the growth of both pathogens during a 36 hour testing at 20 ° c . and 30 ° c ., respectively . area of inhibition in centimeters ( 2 . 0 - 1 . 0 ) +++ ( 1 . 0 - 0 . 5 ) ++ ( 0 . 5 - 0 . 1 ) + the results obtained indicate that beyond the positive effect of stimulation of the immunological parameters in fish and shrimps as induced by the formulas which are the subject matter of this patent ( chart 8 ), the nrrl b - 50213 strain by itself , can prevent illnesses caused by pathogen bacteria and as such , keep the farm healthy . weight gain and survival of pigs using high contents of sbm , starch ( corn and / or wheat four ) and the nrrl b - 50213 strain in a commercial farm 300 pigs were evaluated at weaning , that is since they were 7 days old until they were 15 weeks old , the animals were fed with a formula that contained high concentrations of soy , corn and / or wheat and the nrrl b - 50213 strain . historically this farm does not reach the ideal average growth rates that are between 25 and 55 kg up to the 10 to 15 weeks respectively . in addition , this farm and the whole state of sonora , have a mortality rate of 17 to 20 % at 15 weeks of age . the formula used to feed the control animals and the test animals was the same , except that the nrrl b - 50213 strain was added to test animals . the results obtained from the trial and shown by chart 10 , clearly show that using high concentration of vegetal flour as source of protein and energy and the nrrl b - 50213 strain , can increase weight gain even more so than the average expected . in this trial , weight gain on the test animals was 11 kg above the control animals , which had no nrrl b - 50213 strain . death rate decrease for farmed pigs using high contents of sbm , the formula used to feed the control animals and the test animals was the same , except that the nrrl b - 50213 strain was added to test animals . the results obtained from the trial and shown by chart 11 , clearly show that using a high concentration of vegetal flour as source of protein and energy and the nrrl b - 50213 strain , up to a 10 % death rate decrease can be prevented with respect to the control animals . in this trial , had a 7 % death rate only compared to the control animals that had a 17 % during the same period of study . amaya , e . a ., daves , d . a ., rouse , d . b . 1997a . replacement of fish meal in practical diets for the pacific white shrimp ( litopenaeus vannamei ) reared under pond conditions . aquaculture 262 , 393 - 401 . arellano - carbajal , f y olmos - soto , j . 2002 . thermostable alfa - 1 - 4 and alfa - 1 - 6 glucosidase enzymes from bacillus sp isolated from a marine environment . journal of microbiology & amp ; 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