Discovering how bioactive compounds from seaweed kill parasitic worms

Infection with gastrointestinal parasites is one of the most severe impediments to sustainable meat and milk production from grazing livestock.

Widespread resistance to the small number of available synthetic drugs has rendered continued prophylactic drug treatment unsustainable.

One solution is to feed animals on plants or other natural resources that contain bioactive compounds with anti-parasitic activity, such as seaweeds.

The in vitro anti-parasitic activity of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from seaweeds has been reported, but as yet, the anthelmintic mechanism of PUFAs is unknown.

The current proposal aims to use PUFAs from Nordic seaweeds to investigate how PUFAs bind to nematode parasites and target the receptors.

Furthermore, transcriptomics and functional biochemical experiments will be used to elucidate the biological pathways that are perturbed in nematodes after exposure to sub-lethal doses of PUFAs in vitro.

This unique multidisciplinary project will involve leading groups in both veterinary parasitology and receptor biology and combine the latest techniques in molecular parasitology and drug-receptor biology.

It is envisaged that the unique skill sets obtained from the project will be highly beneficial to my future career, as well as uncovering novel insights into the biological properties of PUFAs that will greatly aid the practical future use of PUAFs-containing plants and algae, thus ensuring the continued sustainability of pasture-based livestock production.