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Pigs expressing salivary phytase produce low-phosphorus manure

Nature Biotechnology volume 19, pages 741–745 (2001)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 October 2001

Abstract

To address the problem of manure-based environmental pollution in the pork industry, we have developed the phytase transgenic pig. The saliva of these pigs contains the enzyme phytase, which allows the pigs to digest the phosphorus in phytate, the most abundant source of phosphorus in the pig diet. Without this enzyme, phytate phosphorus passes undigested into manure to become the single most important manure pollutant of pork production. We show here that salivary phytase provides essentially complete digestion of dietary phytate phosphorus, relieves the requirement for inorganic phosphate supplements and reduces fecal phosphorus output by up to 75%. These pigs offer a unique biological approach to the management of phosphorus nutrition and environmental pollution in the pork industry.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff at Arkell Swine Research and T. Archbold in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science for their assistance. This research was supported by funding from Ontario Pork, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Food Systems Biotechnology Centre (University of Guelph) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to C.W.F. and J.P.P.

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Author notes

  1. Jesper Laursen

    Present address: DAKO A/S, Immunocytochemistry Department, Produktionsvej 42, Glostrup, DK-2600, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    Serguei P. Golovan, Michael Cottrill & Cecil W. Forsberg

  2. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    Serguei P. Golovan, Roy G. Meidinger & John P. Phillips

  3. Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    Ayodele Ajakaiye, Ming Z. Fan & Roger R. Hacker

  4. Arkell Swine Research, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    Miles Z. Wiederkehr & David J. Barney

  5. Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    Claire Plante & John W. Pollard

  6. Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

    M. Anthony Hayes

  7. Institute of Molecular and Structural Biology, Aarhus C University, C F Mollers Alle Bldg 130, Aarhus C, DK-800, Denmark

    Jesper Laursen & J. Peter Hjorth

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Golovan, S., Meidinger, R., Ajakaiye, A. et al. Pigs expressing salivary phytase produce low-phosphorus manure. Nat Biotechnol 19, 741–745 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/90788

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