Santini Joanne M
Structural & Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, UCL, London, U.K.
Essays Biochem. 2024 Dec 17;68(5):579-581. doi: 10.1042/EBC20240037.
The discovery of viruses that can devour bacteria, bacteriophages (phages), was in 1915. Phages are ubiquitous, outnumbering the organisms they devour, and genomically, morphologically, and ecologically diverse. They were critical in our development of molecular biology and biotechnology tools and have been used as therapeutics for over 100 years, primarily in Eastern Europe with thousands of patients from all over the world treated in Georgia. The rise of antimicrobial resistance and the lack of new antimicrobials, has brought them back into the spotlight dawning the New Age of the Phage. This special issue will provide further insight to phage diversity across ecosystems, including humans, animals, and plants, i.e. the basis of a One Health approach, and the requirements for turning phages into viable medicines for the many and not just for the few.
能吞噬细菌的病毒——噬菌体的发现是在1915年。噬菌体无处不在,数量超过它们所吞噬的生物体,在基因组、形态和生态方面具有多样性。它们在我们分子生物学和生物技术工具的发展中至关重要,并且作为治疗手段已被使用了100多年,主要在东欧,格鲁吉亚治疗了来自世界各地的数千名患者。抗菌药物耐药性的上升以及新型抗菌药物的缺乏,使它们重新成为焦点,开启了噬菌体的新时代。本期特刊将进一步深入探讨噬菌体在包括人类、动物和植物在内的生态系统中的多样性,即“同一个健康”方法的基础,以及将噬菌体转变为适用于大众而非少数人的可行药物的要求。