National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza, CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2018 Dec 17;46(6):1605-1613. doi: 10.1042/BST20180178. Epub 2018 Dec 4.
Meeting global food demands for a growing human population with finite natural resources is a major challenge. Aquaculture and agriculture are critical to satisfy food requirements, yet suffer significant losses from bacterial diseases. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel antimicrobial strategies, which is heightened by increasing antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, and phage-derived therapies are promising treatments in the fight against bacterial diseases. Here, we describe multiple ways that phages and phage-based technologies can be used as antimicrobials. Antimicrobial activity can be achieved through lysis of targeted bacteria by virulent phages or lytic enzymes. Alternatively, phages can be engineered for the delivery of lethal genes and other cargoes to kill bacteria and to manipulate the bacterial response to conventional antibiotics. We also briefly highlight research exploring phages as potential biocontrol agents with examples from agriculture and aquaculture.
满足不断增长的人口对有限自然资源的全球粮食需求是一项重大挑战。水产养殖和农业对于满足粮食需求至关重要，但却遭受着细菌疾病的严重损失。因此，迫切需要开发新的抗菌策略，而抗生素耐药性的增加加剧了这一需求。噬菌体（phages）是专门感染细菌的病毒，噬菌体衍生疗法是对抗细菌疾病的有前途的治疗方法。在这里，我们描述了多种可以将噬菌体和基于噬菌体的技术用作抗菌剂的方法。通过毒性噬菌体或裂解酶对目标细菌的裂解可以实现抗菌活性。或者，可以对噬菌体进行工程改造，以递送致死基因和其他货物来杀死细菌，并操纵细菌对传统抗生素的反应。我们还简要介绍了探索噬菌体作为农业和水产养殖潜在生物防治剂的研究，并举出了一些例子。
