Department of Molecular Virology, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Microbiology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Crit Rev Microbiol. 2024 Sep;50(5):769-784. doi: 10.1080/1040841X.2023.2274849. Epub 2023 Oct 28.
Bacteriophages are the most numerous entities on earth and are found everywhere their bacterial hosts live. As natural bacteria killers, phages are extensively investigated as a potential cure for bacterial infections. (the gonococcus) is the etiologic agent of a sexually transmitted disease: gonorrhea. The rapid increase of resistance of to antibiotics urges scientists to look for alternative treatments to combat gonococcal infections. Phage therapy has not been tested as an anti-gonococcal therapy so far. To date, no lytic phage has been discovered against . Nevertheless, gonococcal genomes contain both dsDNA and ssDNA prophages, and viral particle induction has been documented. In this review, we consider literature data about the attempts of hunting for a bacteriophage specific for gonococci - the gonophage. We also discuss the potential application of prophage elements in the fight against . Temperate phages may be useful in preventing and treating gonorrhea as a scaffold for anti-gonococcal vaccine development and as a source of lytic enzymes with anti-gonococcal activity.
噬菌体是地球上数量最多的生物，几乎无处不在，只要有其细菌宿主存在的地方，就有噬菌体。作为天然的细菌杀手，噬菌体被广泛研究作为治疗细菌感染的潜在方法。淋球菌是一种性传播疾病的病原体：淋病。对 抗生素耐药性的迅速增加促使科学家寻找替代治疗方法来对抗淋病奈瑟菌感染。噬菌体治疗尚未被测试作为一种抗淋病奈瑟菌的治疗方法。迄今为止，尚未发现针对 的裂解噬菌体。然而，淋病奈瑟菌基因组中既包含双链 DNA (dsDNA) 又包含单链 DNA (ssDNA) 原噬菌体，并且已经记录了病毒粒子的诱导。在这篇综述中，我们考虑了有关寻找针对淋病奈瑟菌的特异性噬菌体——淋菌噬菌体的文献数据。我们还讨论了原噬菌体元件在对抗中的潜在应用。温和噬菌体可能有助于预防和治疗淋病，可用作抗淋病奈瑟菌疫苗开发的支架，以及具有抗淋病奈瑟菌活性的裂解酶的来源。
