| Description: |
The need to develop new classes of antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action against drug-resistant pathogens is becoming very urgent. Enzybiotics are becoming increasingly recognized as potential alternative therapies for drug-resistant bacteria. Enzybiotics are referred to as bacterial cell wall-degrading enzymes, including lysins, bacteriocins, autolysins, and lysozymes. Fischetti and coworkers coined the term "enzybiotics" for these proteins, describing both enzymatic and antibacterial properties. The most important characteristics of enzybiotics are their novel mechanisms of antibacterial action and capacity to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Another significant feature of certain enzybiotics is their low probability of developing bacterial resistance.
Enzybiotics have been optimized through evolution to cause fast and efficient lysis of the host cell from within, thereby ensuring the phage's survival. However, this does not preclude that there is still potential for important when it comes to application from without, especially in complex environments such as certain food matrics, blood or on mucous membranes. Protein engineering strategies such as domain swapping or random mutagenesis can alter binding and lytic properies of PGHs and thereby potentially optimize these proteins for specific applications.
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