The Production of the Recombinant Protein of Anthrax Bacteriolysine PlyPH and In Vitro Study of the Lytic Properties of the Protein Coded for them Against Bacillus anhracis Microbial Cells

The causative agent of anthrax - Bacillus anthracis, due to the prevalence of its natural foci in Russia, high virulence for humans and most mammals, the unique resistance of spore forms to environmental factors and repeated use in terrorist acts, is an extremely dangerous biological agent. Therefore, the search for new effective drugs for the diagnosis and treatment of anthrax, including diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant strains of B. anthracis is necessary. The use of lytic enzymes of species-specific bacteriophages is a new trend in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The goal of this work is the cloning of the anthrax bacteriolysin PlyPH gene as part of the pTrcHis2C vector in Escherichia coli and the in vitro study of the lytic properties of the protein encoded by it against B. anthracis microbial cells. According to the complete sequencing of the B. anthracis genomes of the Ames, Stern 34F2 and JB17 strains, a prophage was found in their chromosomal DNA, which lost part of the structural genes necessary for its replication, but retained a gene with a high degree of homology with the bacteriolysin γ phage gene. For amplification and subsequent cloning of the PlyPH gene, we developed primers containing EcoRI and BamHI restriction enzyme recognition sites. Amplification of the PlyPH gene in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a developed pair of primers was performed using the Stern 34F2 strain of the anthrax microbe as a template. Based on the obtained amplification products and the pTrcHis2C vector, we constructed a recombinant plasmid containing the bacteriolysin synthesis PlyPH gene and stably functioning in the cells of the recombinant E. coli strain. In the course of research, it has been established that microbial cells of the E. coli recombinant TOP10 strain provide for the production of the bacteriolysin of the anthrax prophage, PlyPH, which has the ability to in vitro lyse the vegetative cells of the STI-1 vaccine strain of B. anthracis.

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