https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/1160-vincent-a-fischetti/
Lysin Mechanism of Action
Lysins are a new class of agents for the treatment of bacterial infections. Lysins are recombinant enzymatic proteins derived from bacteriophage that directly digest the cell wall of bacteria leading to rapid bacterial killing. Conventional antibiotics require bacterial cell division and metabolism to occur in order to exert their effect (i.e., cell death or cessation of growth). Lysins, however, are fundamentally different and kill bacteria rapidly upon contact.
Lysins bind and cleave peptidoglycan, which is a crosslinked mesh of proteins and sugars that forms the bacterial cell wall. After binding the peptidoglycan, lysins cleave specific bonds within the peptidoglycan which are required to maintain the structural stability of the cell wall and viability of the bacteria. Importantly, animal cells do not have a peptidoglycan cell wall so this mechanism provides specificity to the bacterial target.
PHAGElogist 