Exploration of Human Skin Phageome to Reveal Endolysins and Novel Antimicrobial Peptides for Therapeutic Applications.

ABSTRACT: The global rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has intensified the search for alternative therapeutics. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins are emerging as promising candidates. They exhibit strong potential due to their target specificity, rapid bactericidal action, and low tendency to induce bacterial resistance. This study presents a comprehensive metagenomic analysis of the human skin phageome using 1564 samples from 10 metagenomic projects. Our analysis led to the classification of 696 phage genomes into clusters and singletons. These genomes displayed considerable variation in size, GC content (average 56%), and coding efficiency (72%). A total of 968 endolysins were identified, including 75 SAR variants, with diverse domain architectures such as CHAP, Amidase, and SH3, suggesting ho

SUBMITTER: Paul JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12597775 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature