Lysins as a powerful alternative to combat Bacillus anthracis

TL;DR

This paper reviews lysins, which are enzymes from bacteriophages, as a potential treatment for Bacillus anthracis infections, offering an alternative to antibiotics.

Contribution

The paper compiles and categorizes multiple lysins with activity against Bacillus anthracis, highlighting their potential for therapeutic use.

Findings

More than a dozen lysins with activity against Bacillus anthracis have been identified.

Most of these lysins are amidases and can be grouped based on sequence similarity.

Lysins show promise as a treatment option for B. anthracis infections in animal models.

Abstract

This review gathers all, to the best of our current knowledge, known lysins, mainly bacteriophage-derived, that have demonstrated activity against Bacillus anthracis strains. B. anthracis is a spore-forming, toxin-producing bacteria, naturally dwelling in soil. It is best known as a potential biowarfare threat, an etiological agent of anthrax, and a severe zoonotic disease. Anthrax can be treated with antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, penicillin, doxycycline); however, their administration may take up even to 60 days, and different factors can compromise their effectiveness. Bacterial viruses, bacteriophages (phages), are natural enemies of bacteria and use their lytic enzymes, endolysins (lysins), to specifically kill bacterial cells. Harnessing the potential of lysins to combat bacterial infections holds promise for diminishing antibiotic usage and, consequently, addressing the escalating antibiotic resistance in bacteria. In this context, we list the lysins with the activity against B. anthracis, providing a summary of their lytic properties in vitro and the outcomes observed in animal models. Bacillus cereus strain ATCC 4342/RSVF1, a surrogate for B. anthracis, was also included as a target bacteria.

• More than a dozen different B. anthracis lysins have been identified and studied.

• They fall into three blocks regarding their amino acid sequence similarity and most of them are amidases.

• Lysins could be used in treating B. anthracis infections.

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