Lactobacillus pentosus expressing porcine lactoferrin elevates antibacterial activity and improves the efficacy of vaccination against Aujeszky’s disease

In this study, Lactobacillus pentosus expressing porcine lactoferrin (pLF) was tested for in vitro antibacterial activity and for its ability to enhance immunity induced by an orally administered Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) vaccine. The cDNA encoding N-terminus of pLF was cloned into a Lactobacillus-specific plasmid to produce L. pentosus pLF expressing transformants (pPG612.1-pLFN/ L. pentosus). The antimicrobial activity of the recombinant pLF protein inhibited bacterial growth in vitro. The supernatant of pPG612.1-pLF-N/L. pentosus had an inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus strain CVCC26003, Bacillus subtilis strain CVCC63501, Escherichia coli strain CVCC10141 and Salmonella enterica ssp. entericaCholeraesuis strain CVCC79102, while it did not inhibit the growth of Lactobacillus casei strain ATCC393. A mouse model was established to test the effectiveness of the orally administered probiotic L. pentosus recombinant strain in the gastrointestinal tract. Mice were immunised with an attenuated porcine Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) vaccine. Serum antibody levels determined using a mouse Aujeszky’s disease IgG ELISA showed that IgG levels were significantly higher in the pPG612.1-pLFN/L. pentosus group than in the PBS and Lactobacillus pentosus groups at days 7 and 21 (P < 0.01) and at day 14 (P < 0.05), indicating that this oral recombinant strain can improve the effectiveness of the vaccine and play a role in immune enhancement through humoral immunity. These results suggest that the recombinant Lactobacillus pentosus not only has the beneficial characteristics of lactic acid bacteria but also produces biologically functional lactoferrin.