Nuclease activity: an exploitable biomarker in bacterial infections

Area of Science:

• Clinical microbiology
• Biomarker discovery
• Infectious disease diagnostics

Background:

• Accurate and timely diagnosis is critical in clinical microbiology for managing infectious diseases.
• Current biomarkers have limitations, necessitating the expansion of the diagnostic toolbox.
• Extracellular nucleases from bacterial pathogens represent a potential new class of biomarkers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review extracellular nucleases from 15 bacterial pathogens.
• To discuss the diagnostic potential of bacterial nuclease activity.
• To explore novel diagnostic applications using nuclease activity.

Main Methods:

• Literature search of PubMed using terms: 'nuclease,' 'bacteria,' 'nuclease activity,' 'biomarker.'
• Selection of articles on infections, diagnosis, bacterial burden, and challenges (2000-2019).
• Review of extracellular nucleases in 15 relevant bacterial pathogens.

Main Results:

• Bacterial extracellular nucleases exhibit diverse activities.
• Nuclease activity patterns can be detected using nucleic acid activatable reporters.
• These reporters can be combined with various platforms for in vitro and in vivo detection.

Conclusions:

• Bacterial nuclease activity offers a novel approach to infectious disease diagnosis.
• Nucleic acid activatable reporters enable detection of disease-associated nuclease patterns.
• This strategy holds potential for improved diagnostic and prognostic applications.