1. Lysocins: Bioengineered Antimicrobials That Deliver Lysins across the Outer Membrane of Gram-Negative Bacteria
- Author
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Vincent A. Fischetti, Raymond Schuch, Chad W. Euler, and Ryan D. Heselpoth
- Subjects
Male ,Gram-negative bacteria ,Lysin ,Colicins ,HL-60 Cells ,Peptidoglycan ,medicine.disease_cause ,Gram-Positive Bacteria ,Microbiology ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Mice ,Bacteriocin ,Anti-Infective Agents ,Bacteriocins ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Gram-Negative Bacteria ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Experimental Therapeutics ,Bacteriophages ,030304 developmental biology ,Pharmacology ,0303 health sciences ,Pyocins ,biology ,030306 microbiology ,Pseudomonas aeruginosa ,Periplasmic space ,biology.organism_classification ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Infectious Diseases ,Bacterial Outer Membrane ,chemistry ,Periplasm ,bacteria ,Bacterial outer membrane ,Bacteria - Abstract
The prevalence of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa has stimulated development of alternative therapeutics. Bacteriophage peptidoglycan hydrolases, termed lysins, represent an emerging antimicrobial option for targeting Gram-positive bacteria. However, lysins against Gram-negatives are generally deterred by the outer membrane and their inability to work in serum. One solution involves exploiting evolved delivery systems used by colicin-like bacteriocins (e.g., S-type pyocins of P. aeruginosa) to translocate through the outer membrane. Following surface receptor binding, colicin-like bacteriocins form Tol- or TonB-dependent translocons to actively import bactericidal domains through outer membrane protein channels. With this understanding, we developed lysocins, which are bioengineered lysin-bacteriocin fusion molecules capable of periplasmic import. In our proof-of-concept studies, components from the P. aeruginosa bacteriocin pyocin S2 (PyS2) responsible for surface receptor binding and outer membrane translocation were fused to the GN4 lysin to generate the PyS2-GN4 lysocin. PyS2-GN4 delivered the GN4 lysin to the periplasm to induce peptidoglycan cleavage and log-fold killing of P. aeruginosa with minimal endotoxin release. While displaying narrow-spectrum antipseudomonal activity in human serum, PyS2-GN4 also efficiently disrupted biofilms, outperformed standard-of-care antibiotics, exhibited no cytotoxicity toward eukaryotic cells, and protected mice from P. aeruginosa challenge in a bacteremia model. In addition to targeting P. aeruginosa, lysocins can be constructed to target other prominent Gram-negative bacterial pathogens.
- Published
- 2019