Publications by authors named "U Bajpai"

The escalating antibiotic resistance in mycobacterial species poses a significant threat globally, necessitating an urgent need to find alternative solutions. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins, which facilitate phage progeny release by attacking bacterial cell walls, present promising antibacterial candidates due to their rapid lytic action, high specificity and low risk of resistance development. In mycobacteria, owing to the complex, hydrophobic cell wall, mycobacteriophages usually synthesize two endolysins: LysinA, which hydrolyzes peptidoglycan; LysinB, which delinks mycolic acid-containing outer membrane and arabinogalactan, releasing free mycolic acid.

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant global health threat, and cases of infection with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) causing lung disease (NTM-LD) are rising. Bacteriophages and their gene products have garnered interest as potential therapeutic options for bacterial infections. Here, we have compiled information on bacteriophages and their products that can kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis or NTM.

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Bacteriophages infecting Mycobacterium smegmatis mc155 are numerous and, hence, are classified into clusters based on nucleotide sequence similarity. Analyzing phages belonging to clusters/subclusters can help gain deeper insights into their biological features and potential therapeutic applications. In this study, for genomic characterization of B1 subcluster mycobacteriophages, a framework of online tools was developed, which enabled functional annotation of about 55% of the previously deemed hypothetical proteins in B1 phages.

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Endolysins are highly evolved bacteriophage-encoded lytic enzymes produced to damage the bacterial cell wall for phage progeny release. They offer promising potential as highly specific lytic proteins with a low chance of bacterial resistance. The diversity in lysin sequences and domain organization can be staggering.

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