title: In vitro destruction of Streptococcus pneumoniae biofilms with bacterial and phage peptidoglycan hydrolases.
abstract: Host- and phage-coded cell wall hydrolases have been used to fight Streptococcus pneumoniae growing as planktonic cells in vitro as well as in animal models. Until now, however, the usefulness of these enzymes in biofilm-grown pneumococci has gone untested. The antipneumococcal activity of different cell wall hydrolases produced by S. pneumoniae and a number of its phages was examined in an in vitro biofilm model. The major pneumococcal autolysin LytA, an N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase, showed the greatest efficiency in disintegrating S. pneumoniae biofilms. The phage-encoded lysozymes Cpl-1 and Cpl-7 were also very efficient. Biofilms formed by the close pneumococcal relatives Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae and Streptococcus oralis were also destroyed by the phage endolysins but not by the S. pneumoniae autolysin LytA. A cooperative effect of LytA and Cpl-1 in the disintegration of S. pneumoniae biofilms was recorded.
authors: Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors: Mirian
authors: M
authors: Domenech
authors: Ernesto
authors: E
authors: García
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Moscoso
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019533:Streptococcus oralis / Q000187:drug effects*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase