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Review
. 2022 Feb 26;23(5):2595.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23052595.

Biological Functions and Applications of Virus-Related Bacterial Nanoparticles: A Review

Toshiki Nagakubo  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Biological Functions and Applications of Virus-Related Bacterial Nanoparticles: A Review

Toshiki Nagakubo. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that microorganisms produce various nanoparticles that exhibit a variety of biological functions. The structure of these bacterial nanoparticles ranges from membrane vesicles composed of membrane lipids to multicomponent proteinaceous machines. Of bacterial nanoparticles, bacterial phage tail-like nanoparticles, associated with virus-related genes, are found in bacteria from various environments and have diverse functions. Extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs), a type of bacterial phage tail-like nanostructure, have diverse biological functions that mediate the interactions between the producer bacteria and target eukaryote. Known gram-negative bacterial eCISs can act as protein translocation systems and inject effector proteins that modulate eukaryotic cellular processes by attaching to the target cells. Further investigation of the functions of eCISs will facilitate the application of these nanomachines as nano-sized syringes in the field of nanomedicine and vaccine development. This review summarises the recent progress in elucidating the structures and biological functions of nanoparticles that resemble the tail components of phages that infect bacteria and discusses directions for future research to improve the clinical applicability of virus-related bacterial nanoparticles.

Keywords: bacteriophages; biological interactions; eCIS; nanomedicines; phage tail-like nanostructures; structure and functional mechanism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Features and genetic compositions of three classes of phage tail-like nanomachines. (A) Features of three classes of phage tail-like nanomachines are listed. (B) Genetic compositions of gene clusters encoding phage tail-like nanomachines, and their phylogenetic relationship are shown [10,11,12]. The phylogenetic relationship is based on that reported in a previous study [6].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Currently known functions of eCIS: a schematic model of the localisation and biological functions of known eCISs and related nanostructures. MAC, metamorphosis-associated contractile structures. Afp, anti-feeding prophage. PVC, Photorhabdus virulence cassette. RBC, red blood cell.
Figure 3
Figure 3
eCIS-related genes affect microbial interactions between Streptomyces and fungi.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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