Bacteriophage Lysin Has Antibiologic Warfare Potential
By Biotechdaily staff writers
Posted on 10 May 2006
Researchers have isolated a bacteriolytic enzyme from bacteriophages that specifically lyses anthrax bacteria over a wide pH range. The lysin, which the investigators have called PlyPH, was described in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Bacteriology. Posted on 10 May 2006
That PlyPH is active under both acid and basic conditions suggests that it may useful as an antibiologic warfare agent. "PlyPH works in an extremely wide pH range, from as low as four to as high as eight,” said senior author Dr. Vince Fischetti, professor of bacterial pathogenesis and immunology at Rockefeller University (New York, NY, USA). "I do not know of any other lytic enzyme that has such a broad range of activity.”
PlyPH's extreme specificity means that it may be used freely in the environment with no deleterious effects on beneficial microorganisms. "This feature, and the wide pH range offered by PlyPH, is why we think it could be used as an environmental decontaminant, said Dr. Fischetti.”
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