C-terminus of TRAP in Staphylococcus can enhance the activity of lysozyme and lysostaphin

Evaluation of the immunogenicity of an omp A and staphylococcal target of RNAIII activating fusion protein displayed on the surface of Escherichia coli

The purpose of this investigation was to construct a recombinant Escherichia coli strain displaying the Staphylococcus aureus target of RNAIII activating protein (TRAP) on its surface, and to investigate the strain for its immunogenicity. The lpp'ompA and lpp'ompA-TRAP genes were fused by the overlap polymerase chain reaction and then ligated into expression plasmid pQE30 producing pLO and pLO-TRAP. These two recombinant plasmids were transformed into E. coli XL1-Blue, resulting in XL1-Blue/pLO and XL1-Blue/pLO-TRAP, which were induced to express protein. The expressed TRAP protein was displayed on the surface of XL1-Blue as judged by whole cell ELISA, flow cytometric analysis, and laser scanning confocal microscopy using the lpp'ompA surface display system. ICR mice were intramuscularly immunized with recombinant strains XL1-Blue/pLO and XL1-Blue/pLO-TRAP as well as recombinant protein TRAP. Immunized mice were assessed for anti-TRAP antibody and lymphocytes for secreted IL-4 and IFN-γ by ELISPOT and secreted IL-17A by indirect ELISA. Immunized mice were challenged with S. aureus Newman and HLJ23-1 strains. The results showed both XL1-Blue/pLO-TRAP and TRAP protein immunized mice to produce better cellular and humoral immunity than XL1-Blue/pLO and PBS injected mice.

Endolysins as antimicrobials

Peptidoglycan (PG) is the major structural component of the bacterial cell wall. Bacteria have autolytic PG hydrolases that allow the cell to grow and divide. A well-studied group of PG hydrolase enzymes are the bacteriophage endolysins. Endolysins are PG-degrading proteins that allow the phage to escape from the bacterial cell during the phage lytic cycle. The endolysins, when purified and exposed to PG externally, can cause "lysis from without." Numerous publications have described how this phenomenon can be used therapeutically as an effective antimicrobial against certain pathogens. Endolysins have a characteristic modular structure, often with multiple lytic and/or cell wall-binding domains (CBDs). They degrade the PG with glycosidase, amidase, endopeptidase, or lytic transglycosylase activities and have been shown to be synergistic with fellow PG hydrolases or a range of other antimicrobials. Due to the coevolution of phage and host, it is thought they are much less likely to invoke resistance. Endolysin engineering has opened a range of new applications for these proteins from food safety to environmental decontamination to more effective antimicrobials that are believed refractory to resistance development. To put phage endolysin work in a broader context, this chapter includes relevant studies of other well-characterized PG hydrolase antimicrobials.

EnzyBase: a novel database for enzybiotic studies

Background

Enzybiotics are becoming increasingly recognized as potential alternative therapies for drug-resistant bacteria. Although only a few enzybiotics are currently well characterized, much information is still missing or is unavailable for researchers. The construction of an enzybiotics database would therefore increase efficiency and convenience in investigating these bioactive proteins and thus help reduce or delay the recent increase in antibiotic resistance.

Description

In the present manuscript, we describe the development of a novel and original database called EnzyBase, which contains 1144 enzybiotics from 216 natural sources. To ensure data quality, we limited the source of information to authoritative public databases and published scientific literature. The interface of EnzyBase is easy to use and allows users to rapidly retrieve data according to their desired search criteria and blast the database for homologous sequences. We also describe examples of database-aided enzybiotics discovery and design.

Conclusion

EnzyBase serves as a unique tool for enzybiotic studies. It has several potential applications, e.g. in silico enzybiotic combination as cocktails, and novel enzybiotic design, in response to continuously emerging drug-resistant pathogens. This database is a valuable platform for researchers who are interested in enzybiotic studies. EnzyBase is available online at http://biotechlab.fudan.edu.cn/database/EnzyBase/home.php.

Grading the commercial optical biosensor literature-Class of 2008: 'The Mighty Binders'

Optical biosensor technology continues to be the method of choice for label-free, real-time interaction analysis. But when it comes to improving the quality of the biosensor literature, education should be fundamental. Of the 1413 articles published in 2008, less than 30% would pass the requirements for high-school chemistry. To teach by example, we spotlight 10 papers that illustrate how to implement the technology properly. Then we grade every paper published in 2008 on a scale from A to F and outline what features make a biosensor article fabulous, middling or abysmal. To help improve the quality of published data, we focus on a few experimental, analysis and presentation mistakes that are alarmingly common. With the literature as a guide, we want to ensure that no user is left behind.