When discussing the potential of specifying the genetic transduction across engineered phages, it can be difficult to inhibit not just the bacterial resistance mechanisms when phages latch on but also start an immune response. However, a potential method can be used to produce transducing particles which can be used as helper phage-free particles as an antimicrobial agent that can go beyond lytic phage therapy.
The assembly comprising virion proteins and the non bacteriophage nucleic acid cargo is called a transducing particle. IN preparation of transducing particles, structural proteins were applied by helper bacteriophages. Upon cell lysis, helper phage progeny and transducing particles are released, which can infect recipient cells, either continuing the helper bacteriophage lytic cycle or completing tradnuction. This process can be an alternative to phage therapy because a) the process is independent of the processes that occur within the recipient cell as there is no requirement for the interaction of host and gene networks.
This makes for the specificity of a transducing particle could be reprogrammed to new hosts solely on the basis of receptor recognition and DNA injection without the need to identify a cognate bacteriophage. Furthermore, transducing particles are non replicated making their route more simple because it is more easily controllable; additionally, transduction is more flexible and can be used to introduce variety of user-defined genetic constructs to bacterial cells, including antibiotics sensitization cassettes, antigens for the in situ production of vaccines, lysins to selectively kill targeted bacteria, or biofilm-degrading enzymes amongst others. The only drawback of this is that they are nonreplicative.
A potential solution to reap these benefits can be using both helper phages and the particles where the genetic information can be replicated and re-used to produce these particles. A good candidate is the P2 bacteriophage as a candidate for bacteriophage transduction because 1) it has a nonspecific DNA injection mechanism which can be reprogrammed using mutagenesis to recognize and deliver DNA to alternative hosts. With this, a helper bacteriophage must be used for transduction where then P2 lysogen can be used to produce, package, and retain these particles through the phage as a delivery mechanism above all else.
