Novel alternatives to antibiotics: bacteriophages, bacterial cell wall hydrolases, and antimicrobial peptides

Extensive research has been conducted on the development of three groups of naturally occurring antimicrobials as novel alternatives to antibiotics: bacteriophages (phages), bacterial cell wall hydrolases (BCWH), and antimicrobial peptides (AMP). Phage therapies are highly efficient, highly specific, and relatively cost-effective. However, precautions have to be taken in the selection of phage candidates for therapeutic applications as some phages may encode toxins and others may, when integrated into host bacterial genome and converted to prophages in a lysogenic cycle, lead to bacterial immunity and altered virulence. BCWH are divided into three groups: lysozymes, autolysins, and virolysins. Among them, virolysins are the most promising candidates as they are highly specific and have the capability to rapidly lyse antibiotic-resistant bacteria on a generally species-specific basis. Finally, AMP are a family of natural proteins produced by eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms or encoded by phages. AMP are of vast diversity in term of size, structure, mode of action, and specificity and have a high potential for clinical therapeutic applications.     

Physiological description of multivariate interdependencies between process parameters,morphology and physiology during fed‐batch penicillin production

Optimization of productivity and economics of industrial bioprocesses requires characterization of interdependencies between process parameters and process performance. In the case of penicillin production, as in other processes, process performance is often closely interlinked with the physiology and morphology of the organism used for production. This study presents a systematic approach to efficiently characterize the physiological effects of multivariate interdependencies between bioprocess design parameters (spore inoculum concentration, pO₂ control level and substrate feed rate), morphology, and physiology. Method development and application was performed using the industrial model process of penicillin production. Applying traditional, statistical bioprocess analysis, multivariate correlations of raw bioprocess design parameters (high spore inoculum concentration, low pO₂ control as well as reduced glucose feeding) and pellet morphology were identified. A major drawback of raw design parameter correlation models; however, is the lack of transferability across different process scales and regimes. In this context, morphological and physiological bioprocess modeling based on scalable physiological parameters is introduced. In this study, raw parameter effects on pellet morphology were efficiently summarized by the physiological parameter of the biomass yield per substrate. Finally, for the first time to our knowledge, the specific growth rate per spore was described as time‐independent determinant for switching from pellet to disperse growth during penicillin production and thus introduced as a novel, scalable key process parameter for pellet morphology and process performance. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:689–699, 2014     

噬菌体粉剂的制备及抗逆性与稳定性

【背景】细菌耐药已成为全球严重的公共卫生问题,养殖业是细菌耐药性产生的重要源头之一。我国正在全力推进\"减抗、限抗、禁抗\"战略。新型安全高效的抗生素替代品成为当前养殖业的重要需求。噬菌体因其能有效裂解细菌被认为是一个重要的突破口,但噬菌体作为活体微生物,在保存和使用时存在稳定性差、利用率低等问题。【目的】制备噬菌体粉剂,提高噬菌体的抗逆性和稳定性,为噬菌体在养殖业中的应用提供技术支持。【方法】选用大肠杆菌噬菌体BpEP4,采用嵌段式聚醚F-68包被噬菌体,然后负载于脱脂米糠制得噬菌体粉剂,双层琼脂平板法测定粉剂的噬菌体效价,研究其耐高温性能、pH稳定性与常温保存稳定性。【结果】噬菌体粉剂可以在100℃保持噬菌体的活性,pH耐受范围为2.0-12.0。常温下保存3个月噬菌体效价无明显降低。【结论】粉剂显著提高了噬菌体的抗逆性与稳定性,具有很好的应用价值和推广前景。     

Characterization of induced Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophage SAP-26 and its anti-biofilm activity with rifampicin

Lytic bacteriophages (phages) have been investigated as treatments for bacterial infectious diseases. An induced phage, SAP-26, was isolated from a clinical isolate of Staphylococcus aureus. It belongs to the family Siphoviridae and its genome consists of double-stranded 41,207 bp DNA coding for 63 open reading frames. The phage SAP-26 showed a wide spectrum of lytic activity against both methicillin-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-susceptible S.aureus. Furthermore, combined treatment with a phage and antimicrobial agents showed a strong biofilm removal effect which induced structural changes in the biofilm matrix and a substantial decrease in the number of bacteria. Such a broad host range in S. aureus and biofilm removal activity of the phage SAP-26 suggests the possibility of its use as a therapeutic phage in combination with appropriate antimicrobial agent(s). Among the three antimicrobial agents combined with phage, the combination of rifampicin showed the best biofilm removal effect. To the authors' knowledge, this study showed for the first time that S. aureus biofilm could be efficiently eradicated with the mixture of phage and an antimicrobial agent, especially rifampicin.     

Bacteriophages and their application in food safety

In recent years it has become widely recognized that bacteriophages have several potential applications in the food industry. They have been proposed as alternatives to antibiotics in animal health, as biopreservatives in food and as tools for detecting pathogenic bacteria throughout the food chain. Bacteriophages are viruses that only infect and lyse bacterial cells. Consequently, they display two unique features relevant in and suitable for food safety. Namely, their safe use as they are harmless to mammalian cells and their high host specificity that allows proper starter performance in fermented products and keeps the natural microbiota undisturbed. However, the recent approval of bacteriophages as food additives has opened the discussion about ‘edible viruses’. In this review, we examine the promising uses of phages for the control of foodborne pathogens and the drawbacks on which more research is needed to further exploit these biological entities.     

细菌的噬菌体感染抗性机制

噬菌体广泛存在于生态环境中。细菌在与噬菌体长期的共进化过程中,衍化出了多种针对噬茵体感染的抗性机制。我们从宿主菌的抑制吸附、阻止噬菌体DNA注入、切断噬菌体DNA和影响其功能及流产感染等方面,对宿主菌抵抗噬菌体感染的机制进行了综述。     

细菌与噬菌体相互抵抗机制研究进展

噬菌体作为一种侵染细菌的病毒,能够特异性识别宿主细菌。近年来,抗生素的过度使用导致耐药细菌的出现,噬菌体有望成为对抗耐药细菌的新武器。在细菌与噬菌体长期共进化过程中,二者都演化出一系列抵御策略。本文从抑制噬菌体吸附、阻止噬菌体DNA进入、切割噬菌体基因组、流产感染以及群体感应对噬菌体的调控等方面,对细菌抵抗噬菌体的机制以及噬菌体应对细菌的策略进行了综述,同时还列举了细菌和噬菌体相互抵抗机制的检测方法,以期为噬菌体在细菌控制中的应用以及探究细菌抵抗噬菌体的机制提供理论依据。     

噬菌体治疗肺炎克雷伯菌感染的研究进展

肺炎克雷伯菌是肠杆菌科家族中的一员,在各种环境中广泛存在,可导致诸如奶牛乳房炎在内的多种动物疫病,引起人类的肺炎、尿路感染、菌血症、伤口性感染和化脓性脓肿在内的多种临床感染。该菌对抗生素的耐受日趋严重,而且高毒力菌株不断出现,给该菌的防控带来了巨大挑战。噬菌体是一种裂解细菌的病毒,因其具有治疗耐药细菌感染的潜力而备受关注,世界各地均有使用噬菌体成功治疗耐药细菌感染的案例。本文基于国内外对肺炎克雷伯菌及其噬菌体的研究数据,综述了肺炎克雷伯菌的流行病学调查情况和噬菌体在治疗肺炎克雷伯菌感染方面的应用,以期为基于肺炎克雷伯菌噬菌体的抗菌研究和临床应用提供参考。