Csl2, a novel chimeric bacteriophage lysin to fight infections caused by Streptococcus suis, an emerging zoonotic pathogen

Streptococcus suis is a Gram-positive bacterium that infects humans and various animals, causing human mortality rates ranging from 5 to 20%, as well as important losses for the swine industry. In addition, there is no effective vaccine for S. suis and isolates with increasing antibiotic multiresistance are emerging worldwide. Facing this situation, wild type or engineered bacteriophage lysins constitute a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. In this study, we have constructed a new chimeric lysin, Csl2, by fusing the catalytic domain of Cpl-7 lysozyme to the CW_7 repeats of LySMP lysin from an S. suis phage. Csl2 efficiently kills different S. suis strains and shows noticeable activity against a few streptococci of the mitis group. Specifically, 15 µg/ml Csl2 killed 4.3 logs of S. suis serotype 2 S735 strain in 60 min, in a buffer containing 150 mM NaCl and 10 mM CaCl(2), at pH 6.0. We have set up a protocol to form a good biofilm with the non-encapsulated S. suis mutant strain BD101, and the use of 30 µg/ml Csl2 was enough for dispersing such biofilms and reducing 1–2 logs the number of planktonic bacteria. In vitro results have been validated in an adult zebrafish model of infection.