Reducing microbial ureolytic activity in the rumen by immunization against urease therein

BACKGROUND: Ureolytic activity of rumen bacteria leads to rapid urea conversion to ammonia in the rumen of dairy cows, resulting possible toxicity, excessive ammonia excretion to the environment, and poor nitrogen utilization. The present study investigated immunization of dairy cows against urease in the rumen as an approach to mitigate bacterial ureolytic activity therein. RESULTS: Most alpha subunit of rumen urease (UreC) proteins shared very similar amino acid sequences, which were also highly similar to that of H. pylori. Anti-urease titers in the serum and the saliva of the immunized cows were evaluated following repeated immunization with the UreC of H. pylori as the vaccine. After the fourth booster, the vaccinated cows had a significantly reduced urease activity (by 17%) in the rumen than the control cows that were mock immunized cows. The anti-urease antibody significantly reduced ureolysis and corresponding ammonia formation in rumen fluid in vitro. Western blotting revealed that the H. pylori UreC had high immunological homology with the UreC from rumen bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccine developed based on UreC of H. pylori can be a useful approach to decrease bacterial ureolysis in the rumen. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0409-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.