scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

A Novel Acinetobacter baumannii Bacteriophage Endolysin LysAB54 With High Antibacterial Activity Against Multiple Gram-Negative Microbes

02 Mar 2021-Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (Frontiers Media SA)-Vol. 11, pp 637313-637313
TL;DR: In this paper, an A. baumannii bacteriophage p54 was isolated and characterized, and a novel endolysin, namely LysAB54, showing low similarity with other well-known related endolysins, was cloned, expressed, and characterized from the bacteria p54.
Abstract: The rapid spread and emergence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and other pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria spurred scientists and clinicians to look for alternative therapeutic agents to conventional antibiotics. In the present study, an A. baumannii bacteriophage p54 was isolated and characterized. Morphological and genome analysis revealed that bacteriophage p54 belongs to Myoviridae family with a genome size of 165,813 bps. A novel endolysin, namely LysAB54, showing low similarity with other well-known related endolysins, was cloned, expressed, and characterized from the bacteriophage p54. LysAB54 showed significant bactericidal activity against multidrug-resistant A. baumannii and other Gram-negative bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli, in the absence of outer membrane permeabilizers. Based on all those observations, LysAB54 could represent a potential agent for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative superbugs.

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review comprehensively introduces the structures and activities of endolysins and summarize the latest application progress of recombinant endolySins in the fields of medical treatment, pathogen diagnosis, food safety, and agriculture.
Abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global crisis for human public health which threatens the effective prevention and control of ever-increasing infectious diseases. The advent of pandrug-resistant bacteria makes most, if not all, available antibiotics invalid. Meanwhile, the pipeline of novel antibiotics development stagnates, which prompts scientists and pharmacists to develop unconventional antimicrobials. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins are cell wall hydrolases which could hydrolyze the peptidoglycan layer from within and outside of bacterial pathogens. With high specificity, rapid action, high efficiency, and low risk of resistance development, endolysins are believed to be among the best alternative therapeutic agents to treat multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria. As of now, endolysins have been applied to diverse aspects. In this review, we comprehensively introduce the structures and activities of endolysins and summarize the latest application progress of recombinant endolysins in the fields of medical treatment, pathogen diagnosis, food safety, and agriculture.

31 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the emergence of AMR and argue for the importance of addressing this issue by discovering novel synthetic or naturally occurring antibacterial compounds and providing insights into the application of various drug delivery approaches, delivered through numerous routes, in comparison with conventional delivery systems.
Abstract: The rapid increase in pathogenic microorganisms with antimicrobial resistant profiles has become a significant public health problem globally. The management of this issue using conventional antimicrobial preparations frequently results in an increase in pathogen resistance and a shortage of effective antimicrobials for future use against the same pathogens. In this review, we discuss the emergence of AMR and argue for the importance of addressing this issue by discovering novel synthetic or naturally occurring antibacterial compounds and providing insights into the application of various drug delivery approaches, delivered through numerous routes, in comparison with conventional delivery systems. In addition, we discuss the effectiveness of these delivery systems in different types of infectious diseases associated with antimicrobial resistance. Finally, future considerations in the development of highly effective antimicrobial delivery systems to combat antimicrobial resistance are presented.

20 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , a review of the promising antimicrobial therapies for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections is presented, focusing on preclinical and clinical investigations, as well as combinatorial approaches.

20 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the current state of the art on the heterologous expression of endolysin, showing the potential of bacteriophage endolysins in controlling bacterial infections.
Abstract: The prevalence of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria is a public health concern. Bacteriophages and bacteriophage-derived lytic enzymes have been studied in response to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria. The availability of tRNAs and endolysin toxicity during recombinant protein expression is circumvented by codon optimization and lower expression levels using inducible pET-type plasmids and controlled cultivation conditions, respectively. The use of polyhistidine tags facilitates endolysin purification and alters antimicrobial activity. Outer membrane permeabilizers, such as organic acids, act synergistically with endolysins, but some endolysins permeate the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria per se. However, the outer membrane permeation mechanisms of endolysins remain unclear. Other strategies, such as the co-administration of endolysins with polymyxins, silver nanoparticles, and liposomes confer additional outer membrane permeation. Engineered endolysins comprising domains for outer membrane permeation is also a strategy used to overcome the current challenges on the control of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Metagenomics is a new strategy for screening endolysins with interesting antimicrobial properties from uncultured phage genomes. Here, we review the current state of the art on the heterologous expression of endolysin, showing the potential of bacteriophage endolysins in controlling bacterial infections.

14 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a membrane-permeabilizing peptide CeA at the C-terminus of a muralytic enzyme LysAB2 was used to enable effective killing of Gram-negative (G-ve) bacteria.
Abstract: Bacteriophage endolysins (lysins, or murein hydrolases) are enzymes that bacteriophages utilize to degrade the cell wall peptidoglycans (PG) and subsequently disintegrate bacterial cells from within. Due to their muralytic activity, lysins are considered as potential candidates to battle against antibiotic resistance. However, most lysins in their native form lack the capability of trespassing the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative (G-ve) bacteria. To turn the bacteriophage enzymes into antibacterial weapons against G-ve bacteria, endowing these enzymes the capability of accessing the PG substrate underneath the OM is critical. Here we show that fusing a membrane-permeabilizing peptide CeA at the C-terminus of a muralytic enzyme LysAB2 renders a two-step mechanism of bacterial killing and increases the activity of LysAB2 against the multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii by up to 100 000-folds. The engineered LysAB2, termed LysAB2-KWK here, also shows remarkable activity against A. baumannii at the stationary phase and a prominent capability to disrupt biofilm formation. In addition, the enzyme shows a broad antibacterial spectrum against G-ve bacteria, a decent tolerance to serum, and a prolonged storage life. LysAB2-KWK rescues the larva of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella from A. baumannii infection through systemic administration. Altogether, our work equips a globular lysin with OM permeabilization activity to enable effective killing of G-ve bacteria, reveals the critical role of the C-terminus of a globular lysin in the antibacterial activity, and points toward a viable route to engineer globular lysins as antibacterial enzymes for potential clinical use against multidrug resistant G-ve bacteria.

13 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The neighbor-joining method and Sattath and Tversky's method are shown to be generally better than the other methods for reconstructing phylogenetic trees from evolutionary distance data.
Abstract: A new method called the neighbor-joining method is proposed for reconstructing phylogenetic trees from evolutionary distance data. The principle of this method is to find pairs of operational taxonomic units (OTUs [= neighbors]) that minimize the total branch length at each stage of clustering of OTUs starting with a starlike tree. The branch lengths as well as the topology of a parsimonious tree can quickly be obtained by using this method. Using computer simulation, we studied the efficiency of this method in obtaining the correct unrooted tree in comparison with that of five other tree-making methods: the unweighted pair group method of analysis, Farris's method, Sattath and Tversky's method, Li's method, and Tateno et al.'s modified Farris method. The new, neighbor-joining method and Sattath and Tversky's method are shown to be generally better than the other methods.

57,055 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The recently‐developed statistical method known as the “bootstrap” can be used to place confidence intervals on phylogenies and shows significant evidence for a group if it is defined by three or more characters.
Abstract: The recently-developed statistical method known as the "bootstrap" can be used to place confidence intervals on phylogenies. It involves resampling points from one's own data, with replacement, to create a series of bootstrap samples of the same size as the original data. Each of these is analyzed, and the variation among the resulting estimates taken to indicate the size of the error involved in making estimates from the original data. In the case of phylogenies, it is argued that the proper method of resampling is to keep all of the original species while sampling characters with replacement, under the assumption that the characters have been independently drawn by the systematist and have evolved independently. Majority-rule consensus trees can be used to construct a phylogeny showing all of the inferred monophyletic groups that occurred in a majority of the bootstrap samples. If a group shows up 95% of the time or more, the evidence for it is taken to be statistically significant. Existing computer programs can be used to analyze different bootstrap samples by using weights on the characters, the weight of a character being how many times it was drawn in bootstrap sampling. When all characters are perfectly compatible, as envisioned by Hennig, bootstrap sampling becomes unnecessary; the bootstrap method would show significant evidence for a group if it is defined by three or more characters.

40,349 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (Mega) software implements many analytical methods and tools for phylogenomics and phylomedicine and has additionally been upgraded to use multiple computing cores for many molecular evolutionary analyses.
Abstract: The Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (Mega) software implements many analytical methods and tools for phylogenomics and phylomedicine. Here, we report a transformation of Mega to enable cross-platform use on Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. Mega X does not require virtualization or emulation software and provides a uniform user experience across platforms. Mega X has additionally been upgraded to use multiple computing cores for many molecular evolutionary analyses. Mega X is available in two interfaces (graphical and command line) and can be downloaded from www.megasoftware.net free of charge.

21,952 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings show substantial progress in the reduction of lower respiratory infection burden, but this progress has not been equal across locations, has been driven by decreases in several primary risk factors, and might require more effort among elderly adults.
Abstract: Summary Background Lower respiratory infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study 2016, provides an up-to-date analysis of the burden of lower respiratory infections in 195 countries This study assesses cases, deaths, and aetiologies spanning the past 26 years and shows how the burden of lower respiratory infection has changed in people of all ages Methods We used three separate modelling strategies for lower respiratory infections in GBD 2016: a Bayesian hierarchical ensemble modelling platform (Cause of Death Ensemble model), which uses vital registration, verbal autopsy data, and surveillance system data to predict mortality due to lower respiratory infections; a compartmental meta-regression tool (DisMod-MR), which uses scientific literature, population representative surveys, and health-care data to predict incidence, prevalence, and mortality; and modelling of counterfactual estimates of the population attributable fraction of lower respiratory infection episodes due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus We calculated each modelled estimate for each age, sex, year, and location We modelled the exposure level in a population for a given risk factor using DisMod-MR and a spatio-temporal Gaussian process regression, and assessed the effectiveness of targeted interventions for each risk factor in children younger than 5 years We also did a decomposition analysis of the change in LRI deaths from 2000–16 using the risk factors associated with LRI in GBD 2016 Findings In 2016, lower respiratory infections caused 652 572 deaths (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 586 475–720 612) in children younger than 5 years (under-5s), 1 080 958 deaths (943 749–1 170 638) in adults older than 70 years, and 2 377 697 deaths (2 145 584–2 512 809) in people of all ages, worldwide Streptococcus pneumoniae was the leading cause of lower respiratory infection morbidity and mortality globally, contributing to more deaths than all other aetiologies combined in 2016 (1 189 937 deaths, 95% UI 690 445–1 770 660) Childhood wasting remains the leading risk factor for lower respiratory infection mortality among children younger than 5 years, responsible for 61·4% of lower respiratory infection deaths in 2016 (95% UI 45·7–69·6) Interventions to improve wasting, household air pollution, ambient particulate matter pollution, and expanded antibiotic use could avert one under-5 death due to lower respiratory infection for every 4000 children treated in the countries with the highest lower respiratory infection burden Interpretation Our findings show substantial progress in the reduction of lower respiratory infection burden, but this progress has not been equal across locations, has been driven by decreases in several primary risk factors, and might require more effort among elderly adults By highlighting regions and populations with the highest burden, and the risk factors that could have the greatest effect, funders, policy makers, and programme implementers can more effectively reduce lower respiratory infections among the world's most susceptible populations Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

1,147 citations