Characterization and partial purification of staphylococcal delta-lysin

Exebacase: A Novel Approach to the Treatment of Staphylococcal Infections

Lysins are bacteriophage-derived enzymes that degrade essential components of bacteria. Exebacase (Lysin CF-301) is an attractive antimicrobial agent because it demonstrates rapid bacteriolytic activity against staphylococcal species, including Staphylococcus aureus, has a low resistance profile, eradicates biofilms, and acts synergistically with other antibiotics. Combinations including exebacase and standard of care antibiotics represent an alternative to antibiotic monotherapies currently used to treat invasive staphylococcal infections. This manuscript reviews what is known about exebacase and explores how this novel agent may be used in the future to treat human bacterial pathogens.

Purification and characterization of a novel delta-lysin variant that inhibits Staphylococcus aureus and has limited hemolytic activity

Delta-lysins (DL) that are produced by various species of staphylococci are not widely known for their antimicrobial activity. We have purified and characterized a novel DL variant, E229DL and examined its spectrum of inhibitory activity. The biological activity of E229DL, produced by Staphylococcus epidermidis strain E229, shows relatively broad-spectrum activity against Gram-positive pathogens, including representatives of MRSA and epidemic MRSA type 15. E229DL was purified to homogeneity from 95% acidified-methanol extracts of cell cultures by using a series of reversed-phase chromatographic separations. The fully processed form of E229DL is a 25-amino-acid peptide with a predicted mass of 2841.4 Da, but the purified biologically active molecule appears to be N-formylated (mass 2867.33 Da). The DL gene (hld) resembles that of other types of DL, but differs in five codons with hld in Staphylococcus aureus (26 residues) and one codon with the closest homolog, the hld-II in S. warneri (25 residues). The characterization of E229DL showed that its activity is stable in agar exposed to high temperatures (80 degrees C/45 min). In addition, biological testing of the native and synthetic peptides against a range of human and animal erythrocytes and Vero cells indicated that E229DL is an antibacterial agent with no detectable cytopathic effects at concentrations equivalent to the minimum inhibitory concentration for EMRSA15-A208. Initial investigation of the mode of action of E229DL indicated that it is rapidly lytic for target cells. This is the first description of a native form of DL having only limited cytotoxic activity for eukaryotic cells at concentrations that are inhibitory to staphylococci.

Purification and properties of staphylococcal delta hemolysin

Large amounts (200 mg per liter of culture supernatant fluid) of highly purified staphylococcal soluble delta hemolysin were obtained by adsorption to and selective elution from hydroxyapatite followed by exhaustive dialysis against water, concentration by polyvinylpyrrolidone or polyethylene glycol 20,000 dialysis, and a final water dialysis. No carbohydrate, phosphorus, or inactive 280-nm absorbing material was detected in the preparation; however, analysis by density gradient centrifugation, gel filtration, analytical ultracentrifugation, carboxymethyl cellulose chromatography, polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing, and electron microscopy revealed that the lysin was molecularly heterogeneous. The preparation contained an acidic fibrous lysin (S(20,w) of 11.9) and a basic lysin component composed of a population of granular aggregates of various sizes, with a maximum S(20,w) of approximately 4.9. No other staphylococcal products were detected in the preparation. The lysin was active against erythrocytes from many animal species and acted synergistically with staphylococcal beta hemolysin against sheep erythrocytes. It was soluble in chloroform-methanol (2:1), was inactivated by various phospholipids, normal sera, and proteolytic enzymes, but was partially resistant to heat inactivation. Activity was not affected by Ca(2+), Mg(2+), citrate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or cysteine. The lysin preparation also disrupted bacterial protoplasts and spheroplasts, erythrocyte membranes, lysosomes, and lipid spherules, was growth-inhibitory for certain bacteria, and clarified egg yolk-agar. Large amounts produced dermonecrosis in rabbits and guinea pigs. The minimum lethal intravenous dose for mice and guinea pigs was approximately 110 and 30 mg/kg, respectively.

Interfaces of the yeast killer phenomenon

A new prophylactic and therapeutic antimicrobial strategy based on a specific physiological target that is effectively used by killer yeasts in their natural ecological competition is theorized. The natural system exploited is the yeast killer phenomenon previously adopted as an epidemiological marker for intraspecific differentiation of opportunistic yeasts, hyphomycetes, and bacteria. Pathogenic microorganisms (Candida albicans) may be susceptible to the activity of yeast killer toxins due to the presence of specific cell wall receptors. On the basis of the idiotypic network, we report that antiidiotypic antibodies, produced against a monoclonal antibody bearing the receptor-like idiotype, are in vivo protecting animals immunized through idiotypic vaccination and in vitro mimicking the antimicrobial activity of yeast killer toxins, thus acting as antibiotics.

Immunogenicity of Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin

Studies were conducted to determine the immunogenicity of purified Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin. Rabbits and guinea pigs immunized with delta-toxin incorporated into a multiple antibody, whereas animals given toxin in saline or toxin in saline with Tween 80 did not produce antibody. The immunoglobulin G (IgG) fraction isolated by chromatography on protein A-Sepharose was examined for the presence of anti-delta-toxin antibody by immunoelectrophoresis, immunodiffusion, quantitative precipitation tests, affinity chromatography, and toxin neutralization tests. Although delta-toxin-specific IgG precipitated the toxin in agar gels, the antibody did not neutralize the toxin's hemolytic activity. Delta-toxin binding to human erythrocyte membranes was demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescent staining of toxin-treated erythrocytes.

Effect of fatty acids on Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin hemolytic activity

The lysis of human erythrocytes by Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin proceeded without a lag and was directly proportional to toxin concentration and temperature of incubation. Lysis was complete within 8 min. Addition of saturated, straight-chain fatty acids of 13 to 19 carbons increased the activity of delta-toxin, whereas those with 21 to 23 carbons were inhibitory. Palmitic acid was the fatty acid most active in augmenting delta-toxin, but its effect could be abolished by the simultaneous addition of either tricosanoic acid or egg lecithin.

The hemolysins of Staphylococcus aureus

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