The present invention relates to polypeptides comprising an amino sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 1, and fragments and derivatives of these. The invention also relates to the corresponding nucleic acids vectors, host cells and compositions. The present inventions also relates to the use of said polypeptides, nucleic acids, vectors, host cells and compositions in a method for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy or in diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body, in particular for the treatment or prevention of Gram-negative bacterial infections. The polypeptides, nucleic acids, vectors, host cells and compositions according to the invention may also be used as an antimicrobial in food or feed, or in cosmetics, as disinfecting agent or in the environmental field.

Increases in antibiotic resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus have elicited efforts to develop novel antimicrobials. One potential treatment includes lytic enzymes produced by staphylococcal bacteriophage during the lytic cycle. The phage Twort endolysin (PlyTW) harbors three domains, a CHAP endopeptidase, an amidase-2 domain, and a SH3b-5 cell wall binding domain. The CHAP domain alone is necessary and sufficient for lysis of live S. aureus; the amidase-2 domain alone is insufficient. Loss of the SH3b cell wall binding domain results in a 10 fold reduction of enzymatic activity in turbidity reduction and plate lysis assays compared to the full length protein. Deletion of the amidase-2 domain resulted in a protein (PlyTW 172-373) with lytic activity that exceeded the activity of the full length construct in both assays. Addition of Ca.sup.2+ enhanced activity in turbidity reduction assays. Chelation by the addition of EDTA or zinc inhibited the activity of all PlyTW constructs.

The present invention relates to cleaning compositions comprising polypeptides having peptidoglycan degradation activity, as well as use of the cleaning compositions for cleaning of an item such as a textile or a surface.

The present invention relates to cleaning compositions comprising polypeptides having peptidoglycan degradation activity, as well as use of the cleaning compositions for cleaning of an item such as a textile or a surface.

The invention provides a microbial host cell for enhanced recombinant expression of a target protein, said host cell comprising a mutant RNase E enzyme to be coexpressed with a target gene of interest. The invention further provides a method of enhancing recombinant protein expression using said microbial host cell. The method is particularly useful for the expression of proteins that are otherwise difficult to express in traditional expression systems, such as proteins which are toxic to the host cell. The invention further provides an auxiliary plasmid comprising a rne* gene encoding a mutant RNase E enzyme and a LysS gene encoding T7 lysozyme.

Novel polypeptides, polynucleotides, expression vectors and novel immunogenic compositions derived from Staphylococcus aureus, in particular novel polypeptides, polynucleotides, expression vectors and compositions derived from/related to the SpA, Hla, Aur and LukE polypeptides. Also disclosed is methods of immunity induction utilising the polypeptides, polynucleotides, expression vectors, and immunogenic compositions.

The present disclosure features compositions and methods for the treatment of actinomycetia (e.g., corynebacteriales) infections, e.g., caused by mycobacterial cells. In one aspect, the disclosure features a composition containing unencapsulated proteins that include one or more of (a) a Lysin A; (b) a Lysin B; (c) an isoamylase; and (d) an -amylase. The composition optionally further includes a supramolecular structure including one or more (a) a Lysin A; (b) a Lysin B; (c) an isoamylase; and (d) an -amylase. In another aspect, the invention features a method of treating a bacterial infection in a subject by administering a composition of unencapsulated lytic proteins as described herein to the subject in an amount and for a duration sufficient to treat the bacterial infection, optionally in combination with encapsulated lytic proteins. The encapsulated lytic proteins and the unencapsulated lytic proteins can be in the same or different composition and can be administered simultaneously or sequentially.