The present invention relates to bacteriophage therapy. More particularly, the present invention relates to novel bacteriophages having a high specificity against Staphylococcus aureus strains, their manufacture, components thereof, compositions comprising the same and the uses thereof in phage therapy and as companion diagnostic.

A fusion protein including a phage tail-spike protein ΦAB6TSP and a signal indicator is provided. Also, a method of detecting bacteria having pseudaminic acid (Pse) is provided, including steps of contacting a sample with a phage tail-spike protein ΦDAB6TSP; and detecting a signal from the sample. The fusion protein and the method of detecting bacteria can be applied to a set of practical diagnosis and therapeutic alternative against Pse-coated antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for preparing engineered porous protein crystals comprising at least one guest molecule.

Disclosed herein is an engineered bacteriophage comprising an indicator gene, wherein said indicator gene is an RNA aptamer or a green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP-like protein, and further wherein said indicator gene can indicate the presence of a microorganism, such as a bacterial infection. The engineered bacteriophage can be capable of infecting and killing the microorganism. The engineered microorganism can be in a composition for delivery to a subject, and can be in hyaluronic acid, for example. Also disclosed are methods of using the engineered bacteriophage to diagnose and/or treat a subject with a bacterial infection.

The invention provides a fusion protein comprising an antigen binding domain linked to a bacteriophage decoration (Dec) protein along with a polynucleotide comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the fusion protein and a vector comprising the polynucleotide. Additionally, the invention provides a composition comprising the fusion protein and a virus-like particle (VLP), and a method of treating a disease in a mammal comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the composition to the mammal. The invention also provides a method of vaccinating against a disease comprising administering a composition comprising the fusion protein and a VLP encapsulating a protein.

The presence of microorganisms in or on food can lead to, for example, disease, damage (loss of food), a shortening of shelf life, premature ripening, reduced yield, spoilage and/or rotting. Microbial contamination of food also represents a potential health risk, increasing the likelihood of food poisoning and the like. This disclosure provides methods, uses and compositions which may be exploited as a means to reduce or eliminate the presence of microorganisms on or in food and in turn, the various problems associated therewith. Provided is a method of decontaminating food or a food growing medium, substrate or compost of one or more microorganisms, said method comprising contacting the food and/or the food growing medium, substrate or compost with one or more phage.

A modified portal protein of a bacteriophage DNA packaging motor, wherein the modified portal protein is capable of direct insertion into a membrane and wherein the portal protein is modified compared to the wild type portal protein such that one or more amino acid residues on the outer surface of the portal protein is substituted by one or more other amino acid residue, and/or wherein a one or more amino acid residue is inserted on the outer surface of the portal protein so as to alter the outer surface hydrophobicity of the modified portal protein compared to the wild type portal protein.

Methods, systems, compositions and strategies for the delivery of RNA into cells in vivo, ex vivo, or in vitro via ARMMs are provided. In some aspects, ARMMs containing fusion proteins of ARRDC1 fused to an RNA binding protein or an RNA binding protein fused to a WW domain are provided. In some aspects, ARMMs containing binding RNAs associated with cargo RNAs are provided. In other aspects, cargo RNAs associated with a binding RNA, such as a TAR element, are loaded into ARMMs via ARRDC1 fusion proteins containing an RNA binding protein, such as trans-activator of transcription (Tat) protein.

Provided are polypeptides that have at least about 95% but less than 100% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, optionally wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, with the proviso that the polypeptide does not have 100% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2. Also provided are polypeptides that include an amino acid sequence that is a variant of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the variant sequence has at least one substitution at an amino acid position selected from the group consisting of D287, D291, D311, N313, D315, L307, and N284 of SEQ ID NO: 2; optionally wherein the polypeptide inhibits growth of a microbe and/or microbial biofilm and/or disrupts a microbial biofilm; nucleic acid molecules encoding the disclosed polypeptides; vectors and recombinant host cells that include the disclosed nucleic acid molecules; antimicrobial compositions that include an effective amount of the disclosed polypeptides, optionally that also include a carrier and/or one or more additional active agents; and methods for inhibiting the growth of microbes and/or microbial biofilms on surfaces and/or for disrupting microbial biofilms on surfaces and methods for inhibiting the growth of microbes on and/or in agricultural products and/or subjects.

The invention relates to platform for of the preparation of improved nucleic acid delivery vehicles, specifically, vehicles having an extended host recognition ability. The invention further provides improved vehicles, compositions and uses thereof.