Mode of action of pesticin and an engineered hybrid protein: (1) The Pesticin molecule consists of a N-terminal “FyuA binding” and a C-terminal lysozyme-like domain. After traversing the outer membrane pesticin degrades the peptidoglycan structural layer present in the periplasm resulting in cell killing. This translocation depends on an outer membrane protein and virulence factor—FyuA—…
Bacterial pathogens are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. As an alternative therapeutic strategy, phage therapy reagents containing purified viral lysins have been developed against Grampositive organisms but not against Gram-negative organisms due to the inability of these types of drugs to cross the bacterial outer membrane. We solved the crystal structures of a Yersinia pestis …