Email this page

Print this page

Review

Recombinant bacteriophage lysins as antibacterials

Mark Fenton, R. Paul Ross, Olivia McAuliffe, Jim O’Mahony and Aidan Coffey

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.

With the increasing worldwide prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, bacteriophage endolysins (lysins) represent a very promising novel alternative class of antibacterial in the fight against infectious disease. Lysins are phage-encoded peptidoglycan hydrolases which, when applied exogenously (as purified recombinant proteins) to Gram-positive bacteria, bring about rapid lysis and death of the bacterial cell. A number of studies have recently demonstrated the strong potential of these enzymes in human and veterinary medicine to control and treat pathogens on mucosal surfaces and in systemic infections. They also have potential in diagnostics and detection, bio-defence, elimination of food pathogens and control of phytopathogens. This review discusses the extensive research on recombinant bacteriophage lysins in the context of antibacterials, and looks forward to future development and potential.

Authors

Mark Fenton

Cork Institute of Technology; Cork, Ireland

R. Paul Ross

Moorepark Food Research Centre; Cork, Ireland

Olivia McAuliffe

Moorepark Food Research Centre; Cork, Ireland

Jim O’Mahony

Cork Institute of Technology; Cork, Ireland

Aidan Coffey Corresponding author: acoffey@cit.ie

Cork Institute of Technology; Cork, Ireland

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.