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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2008, p. 6734-6740, Vol. 190, No. 20
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00686-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Characterization of a Clostridium difficile Bacteriophage and Its Cloned Biologically Active Endolysin{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Melinda J. Mayer, Arjan Narbad, and Michael J. Gasson*

Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UA, United Kingdom

Received 15 May 2008/ Accepted 1 August 2008

Clostridium difficile infection is increasing in both frequency and severity, with the emergence of new highly virulent strains highlighting the need for more rapid and effective methods of control. Here, we show that bacteriophage endolysin can be used to inhibit and kill C. difficile. The genome sequence of a novel bacteriophage that is active against C. difficile was determined, and the bacteriophage endolysin gene was subcloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The partially purified endolysin was active against 30 diverse strains of C. difficile, and importantly, this group included strains of the major epidemic ribotype 027 (B1/NAP1). In contrast, a range of commensal species that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract, including several representatives of the clostridium-like Firmicutes, were insensitive to the endolysin. This endolysin provides a platform for the generation of both therapeutic and detection systems to combat the C. difficile problem. To investigate a method for the protected delivery and production of the lysin in the gastrointestinal tract, we demonstrated the expression of active CD27L endolysin in the lactic acid bacterium Lactococcus lactis MG1363.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UA, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 (0) 1603 255248. Fax: 44 (0) 1603 255288. E-mail: Mike.Gasson{at}BBSRC.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 August 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2008, p. 6734-6740, Vol. 190, No. 20
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00686-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Williams, O. M., Spencer, R. C. (2009). The management of Clostridium difficile infection. Br Med Bull 0: ldp021v1-ldp021 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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