Strategies for developing phages into novel antimicrobial tailocins
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
Tailocins are high-molecular-weight bacteriocins produced by bacteria to kill related environmental competitors by binding and puncturing their target. Tailocins are promising alternative antimicrobials, yet the diversity of naturally occurring tailocins is limited. The structural similarities between phage tails and tailocins advocate using phages as scaffolds for developing new tailocins. This article reviews three strategies for producing tailocins: disrupting the capsid–tail junction of phage particles, blocking capsid assembly during phage propagation, and creating headless phage particles synthetically. Particularly appealing is the production of tailocins through synthetic biology using phages with contractile tails as scaffolds to unlock the antimicrobial potential of tailocins.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Trends in Microbiology |
ISSN | 0966-842X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)
- antimicrobial, bacteriophage, genetic engineering, headless phage, phage tail-like particle, tailocin
Research areas
ID: 390191204