Phage Therapy Could Leverage Retrons to Overcome Antibiotic Resistance

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute have modified bacterial molecules showed as retrons, which produce DNA serving an immune function in bacteria, to program ways to eliminate antibiotic-resistant infections. Retron-correction techniques create DNA copies that can be integrated into the genomics of phages, a bacterium-killing virus that could eradicate superbugs. The retrons enter the phages’ structure, edit their genomics, and make the virions more efficient when infecting bacteria.