Introduction and applications of bacteriophage polysaccaride depolymerases / 上海交通大学学报（医学版）

ABSTRACT

With the rising detection rate of strains with extensive drug resistance clinically, there is an increasingly urgent need of novel anti-microbial agents. More and more researchers put emphasis on bacteriophage therapy and have made great progress in this field. A large number of studies showed that some bacteriophages could produce enzymes which killed the host bacteria by degrading polysaccharides in their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). This review introduces the classification of phage polysaccharide depolymerases and their action mode, the methods to determine whether the phage produces depolymerases, and their applications in anti-bacterial treatment, biofilm degradation and bacterial capsule typing.