Engineered Phage Endolysin Eliminates Gardnerella Biofilm without Damaging Beneficial Bacteria in Bacterial Vaginosis Ex Vivo.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial vaginosis is characterized by an imbalance of the vaginal microbiome and a characteristic biofilm formed on the vaginal epithelium, which is initiated and dominated by Gardnerella bacteria, and is frequently refractory to antibiotic treatment. We investigated endolysins of the type 1,4-beta-N-acetylmuramidase encoded on Gardnerella prophages as an alternative treatment. When recombinantly expressed, these proteins demonstrated strong bactericidal activity against four different Gardnerella species. By domain shuffling, we generated several engineered endolysins with 10-fold higher bactericidal activity than any wild-type enzyme. When tested against a panel of 20 Gardnerella strains, the most active endolysin, called PM-477, showed minimum inhibitory co

SUBMITTER: Landlinger C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7830407 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature