The potential for bacteriophages and prophage elements in fighting and preventing the gonorrhea

Abstract

Bacteriophages are the most numerous entities on earth and are found everywhere their bacterial hosts live. As natural bacteria killers, phages are extensively investigated as a potential cure for bacterial infections. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the gonococcus) is the etiologic agent of a sexually transmitted disease: gonorrhea. The rapid increase of resistance of N. gonorrhoeae to antibiotics urges scientists to look for alternative treatments to combat gonococcal infections. Phage therapy has not been tested as an anti-gonococcal therapy so far. To date, no lytic phage has been discovered against N. gonorrhoeae. Nevertheless, gonococcal genomes contain both dsDNA and ssDNA prophages, and viral particle induction has been documented. In this review, we consider literature data about the attempts of hunting for a bacteriophage specific for gonococci – the gonophage. We also discuss the potential application of prophage elements in the fight against N. gonorrhoeae. Temperate phages may be useful in preventing and treating gonorrhea as a scaffold for anti-gonococcal vaccine development and as a source of lytic enzymes with anti-gonococcal activity.

Keywords:

• Neisseria gonorrhoeae
• bacteriophage
• phage therapy
• antigen-display
• sexually transmitted disease

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Prof. Timothy K. Maugel from the Laboratory for Biological Ultrastructure, Department of Biology, University of Maryland, USA, for enabling TEM imaging of phages. We acknowledge Łucja Popławska for English language corrections.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, M.A-P, A.P; writing-original draft preparation, M.A-P, A.K; writing-review and editing, M.A-P, A.K., P.G, A.P; figures- P.G, M.A-P, A.P; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was funded by University of Warsaw, The Excellence Initiative – Research University (IDUB) and by National Science Centre (Poland), the project grant number [2021/43/O/NZ6/00379], both obtained by M.A-P.