Biotechnological applications of bacteriophages: state of the art

• Autor(a) principal: Harada, Liliam K.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Silva, Erica C., Campos, Welida F., Del Fiol, Fernando S., Vila, Marta M. D. C., Dabrowska, Krystyna, Krylov, Victor N., Balcão, Victor M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/54758
• topic: Bacteriophages; Phage therapy; Phage display; Bacterial biosensing; Vaccine carriers; Gene delivery; Food biopreservation and safety; Biofilm control; Surface disinfection; Corrosion control; Structural and functional stabilization; Science & Technology

Bacteriophage particles are the most abundant biological entities on our planet, infecting specific bacterial hosts in every known environment and being major drivers of bacterial adaptive evolution. The study of bacteriophage particles potentially sheds light on the development of new biotechnology products. Bacteriophage therapy, although not new, makes use of strictly lytic phage particles as an alternative in the antimicrobial treatment of resistant bacterial infections and is being rediscovered as a safe method due to the fact that these biological entities devoid of any metabolic machinery do not have affinity to eukaryotic cells. Furthermore, bacteriophage-based vaccination is emerging as one of the most promising preventive strategies. This review paper discusses the biological nature of bacteriophage particles, their mode(s) of action and potential exploitation in modern biotechnology. Topics covered in detail include the potential of bacteriophage particles in human infections (bacteriophage therapy), nanocages for gene delivery, food biopreservation and safety, biocontrol of plant pathogens, phage display, bacterial biosensing devices, vaccines and vaccine carriers, biofilm and bacterial growth control, surface disinfection, corrosion control, together with structural and functional stabilization issues.