ISSUE FOCUS 48 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE July 2024 Guided Biotics® are based on FOLIUM Science’s own CRISPR-Cas technology and allow precise control over the expression of specific enzymes within any population of microbes (a microbiome). FOLIUM Science has shown a conserved genus of bacteria with high ammonia-producing activity was consistently present in chicken manure and litter samples from farms across the UK. FOLIUM Science’s ammonia reducing product is a friendly probiotic bacterium that delivers Guided Biotics® technology to ammonia-producing bacteria normally found in the poultry house environment to reduce the expression of urease genes, and thus reduces the formation of ammonia. FOLIUM Science has demonstrated the utility of this approach in one of the most prevalent urease-producing bacteria found in poultry (Figure 1A). Up to an 80% reduction in the rate of ammonia generation was found under laboratory conditions. The Guided Biotics® technology shows significant reduction in ammonification in models that represent the chicken caecal microbiomes (Figure 1B). FOLIUM Science is now moving to test the technology on-farm. THE WIDER USE OF GUIDED BIOTICS® FOR EMISSION CONTROL FOLIUM Science is repurposing/redesigning the same technology to target the bacteria that produce urease enzymes in swine and cattle production, and in slurry storage. The ultimate goal is to not only reduce the formation of ammonia but to improve the efficiency of nitrogen use within the animal by enhancing the gut microbiome and its metabolic activities. The technology could also be used to tackle other microbial enzymes that result in methane production in cattle, or nitrification and denitrification that result in nitrous oxide production by fertilized soils. About Robert Habgood Robert Habgood is a microbiologist and former University of Oxford researcher who has been building FOLIUM Science’s Guided Biotics® technology platform and shaping its R&D pipeline for the past 4 years. FOLIUM Science is a UKbased biotechnology company that provides innovative solutions to sustainably transform the agri-food space by precisely modulating microbiomes. This includes specifically removing disease-causing bacteria, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving nutrient utilization and even providing rapid diagnostics. Non-targeting control Urease-targeting Guided Biotic® Non-targeting control A) B) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Urease activity (ammonia (nmol) / mg protein / min) * Guided Biotics® effectively reduce the urease (ammonia producing) activity of chicken caecal microbiomes Active GB® Figure 1. FOLIUM Science’s Guided Biotics® are capable of reducing ammonia production by major ureaseproducing poultry microbes. (A) Ammonia production (pink colouration) is reduced in microbiological tests. (B) Chicken caecal microbiomes treated with Guided Biotic® in the lab display reduced urease enzyme activity. *p-value of <0.05 (t-test). Error bars represent ±SEM of biological triplicates.
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