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Review
. 2021 Oct 20;10(11):1277.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10111277.

Endolysin, a Promising Solution against Antimicrobial Resistance

Mujeeb Ur Rahman  1 , Weixiao Wang  2 , Qingqing Sun  1 , Junaid Ali Shah  3 , Chao Li  1 , Yanmei Sun  1 , Yuanrui Li  1 , Bailing Zhang  4 , Wei Chen  2 , Shiwei Wang  1
Affiliations
Review

Endolysin, a Promising Solution against Antimicrobial Resistance

Mujeeb Ur Rahman et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global crisis for human public health which threatens the effective prevention and control of ever-increasing infectious diseases. The advent of pandrug-resistant bacteria makes most, if not all, available antibiotics invalid. Meanwhile, the pipeline of novel antibiotics development stagnates, which prompts scientists and pharmacists to develop unconventional antimicrobials. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins are cell wall hydrolases which could hydrolyze the peptidoglycan layer from within and outside of bacterial pathogens. With high specificity, rapid action, high efficiency, and low risk of resistance development, endolysins are believed to be among the best alternative therapeutic agents to treat multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria. As of now, endolysins have been applied to diverse aspects. In this review, we comprehensively introduce the structures and activities of endolysins and summarize the latest application progress of recombinant endolysins in the fields of medical treatment, pathogen diagnosis, food safety, and agriculture.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; biofilm; endolysin; food safety; pathogen detection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different strategies of overcoming the barrier of Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane in the endolysin application.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graphical summary of phage endolysin applications as promising antimicrobial agents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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