Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal.
Crit Rev Biotechnol. 2023 Dec;43(5):787-804. doi: 10.1080/07388551.2022.2071671. Epub 2022 Jul 18.
Bacterial pathogens are leading causes of infections with high mortality worldwide having a great impact on healthcare systems and the food industry. Gold standard methods for bacterial detection mainly rely on culture-based technologies and biochemical tests which are laborious and time-consuming. Regardless of several developments in existing methods, the goal of achieving high sensitivity and specificity, as well as a low detection limit, remains unaccomplished. In past years, various biorecognition elements, such as antibodies, enzymes, aptamers, or nucleic acids, have been widely used, being crucial for the pathogens detection in different complex matrices. However, these molecules are usually associated with high detection limits, demand laborious and costly production, and usually present cross-reactivity. (Bacterio)phage-encoded proteins, especially the receptor binding proteins (RBPs) and cell-wall binding domains (CBDs) of endolysins, are responsible for the phage binding to the bacterial surface receptors in different stages of the phage lytic cycle. Due to their remarkable properties, such as high specificity, sensitivity, stability, and ability to be easily engineered, they are appointed as excellent candidates to replace conventional recognition molecules, thereby contributing to the improvement of the detection methods. Moreover, they offer several possibilities of application in a variety of detection systems, such as magnetic, optical, and electrochemical. Herein we provide a review of phage-derived bacterial binding proteins, namely the RBPs and CBDs, with the prospect to be employed as recognition elements for bacteria. Moreover, we summarize and discuss the various existing methods based on these proteins for the detection of nosocomial and foodborne pathogens.
细菌病原体是导致全球高死亡率感染的主要原因，对医疗保健系统和食品工业有重大影响。细菌检测的金标准方法主要依赖于基于培养的技术和生化测试，这些方法既繁琐又耗时。尽管现有方法有了一些发展，但实现高灵敏度和特异性以及低检测限的目标仍未实现。近年来，各种生物识别元件，如抗体、酶、适体或核酸，已被广泛应用，对不同复杂基质中的病原体检测至关重要。然而，这些分子通常与高检测限、繁琐和昂贵的生产以及通常存在的交叉反应性相关联。噬菌体编码的蛋白质，特别是溶菌酶的受体结合蛋白（RBPs）和细胞壁结合结构域（CBDs），负责噬菌体在噬菌体裂解周期的不同阶段与细菌表面受体结合。由于它们具有出色的特性，如高度特异性、敏感性、稳定性和易于工程化的能力，它们被指定为替代传统识别分子的优秀候选物，从而有助于提高检测方法的性能。此外，它们为各种检测系统（如磁性、光学和电化学）提供了多种应用可能性。本文综述了噬菌体衍生的细菌结合蛋白，即 RBPs 和 CBDs，它们有望作为细菌的识别元件。此外，我们总结和讨论了基于这些蛋白质的各种现有的用于检测医院和食源性病原体的方法。
