ABSTRACT
Antimicrobial resistance has spread quickly on a worldwide scale, reducing therapeutic options for bacterial infections. CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive immune system found in many prokaryotes that can be designed to target bacterial genomes, leading to cell death. Repurposing the CRISPR-Cas system as a therapeutic strategy offers an attractive way to overcome antimicrobial resistance. However, this strategy requires efficient vectors for the CRISPR-Cas system to reach the bacterial genomes. Engineered phages offer an attractive option as cargo delivery vectors. In this review, we discuss the production of phage-based vectors and the relevance of using repurposed CRISPR-Cas systems as antimicrobials. We also discuss recent progress in phage engineering that can potentially overcome the limitations and increase the efficiency of CRISPR-Cas delivery.
Subject(s)
Bacteriophages , CRISPR-Cas Systems , Bacteriophages/genetics , CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics , Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic RepeatsABSTRACT
The lytic Escherichia coli siphophage BRET was isolated from a chicken obtained at a local market in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Its linear genome sequence consists of 59,550 bp (43.4% GC content) and contains 88 predicted genes, including 4 involved in archaeosine biosynthesis. Phage BRET is related (95% nucleotide identity) to Enterobacteria phage JenK1.
