Screening of Bacteriocin-producing Bacillus Strains Isolated from Domestic Animal Feces for Antagonistic Activities against Clostridium perfringens

The purpose of this study was to isolate and characterize bacteriocin-producing bacteria against Clostridium perfringens from domestic animals to determine their usefulness as probiotics. The feces of cattle and chicken were used as sources to isolate bacteriocin-producing bacteria using the spot-on-lawn method. In total, 900 bacterial stains were isolated from domestic animal feces, and 19 strains were finally selected after determining the inhibitory activity against the pathogenic indicator C. perfringens KCTC 3269. Eighteen strains of Bacillus subtilis and one strain of Brevibacillus parabrevis were identified by 16s rRNA sequencing. Most of the bacterial strains isolated were resistant to 0.5% bile salts and remained viable after 2 h at pH 3.0. Additionally, some B. subtilis strains showed strong inhibitory activity against Listeria monocytogenes. We isolated and screened B. subtilis strains CB 153 and CB 189 from cattle and B. subtilis MSC 156 and B. parabrevis MSC 164 from chickens using probiotic selection criteria such as inhibition activity against C. perfringens and tolerance to acid and bile salts. The isolated bacteriocin-producing bacteria and/or bacteriocin have the potential to be used as probiotics in the livestock industry.