Phage Engineering for Targeted Multidrug-Resistant <i>Escherichia coli</i>

The lytic bacteriophages have potential application value in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the narrow host spectrum of these phages limits their range of clinical application. Here, we demonstrate the use of scarless Cas9-assisted recombination (no-SCAR) gene-editing technology to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jiaoyang Song, Zhengjie Liu, Qing Zhang, Yuqing Liu, Yibao Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/3/2459
Description
Summary:The lytic bacteriophages have potential application value in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the narrow host spectrum of these phages limits their range of clinical application. Here, we demonstrate the use of scarless Cas9-assisted recombination (no-SCAR) gene-editing technology to regulate phage–host range. We used phage PHB20 as the scaffold to create agents targeting different multidrug-resistant <i>Escherichia coli</i> by replacing its phage tail fiber gene (ORF40). The engineered phages were polyvalent and capable of infecting both the original host bacteria and new targets. Phage-tail fiber genes can be amplified by PCR to construct a recombinant phage PHB20 library that can deal with multidrug-resistant bacteria in the future. Our results provide a better understanding of phage–host interactions, and we describe new anti-bacterial editing methods.
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067