Soon after their discovery in the early 20th century, bacteriophages were recognized to have great potential as antimicrobial agents, a potential that has yet to be fully realized. The nascent field of phage therapy was adversely affected by inadequately controlled trials and the discovery of antibiotics. Although the study of phages as anti-infective agents slowed, phages played an important role in the development of molecular biology. In recent years, the increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria has renewed interest in the use of phages as antimicrobial agents. With the wide array of possibilities offered by genetic engineering, these bacterial viruses are being modified to precisely control and detect bacteria and to serve as new sources of antibacterials. In applications that go beyond their antimicrobial activity, phages are also being developed as vehicles for drug delivery and vaccines, as well as for the assembly of new materials. This review highlights advances in techniques used to engineer phages for all of these purposes and discusses existing challenges and opportunities for future work.

中文翻译：

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基因工程噬菌体：过去十年进展回顾。


噬菌体在 20 世纪初被发现后不久，就被认为具有作为抗菌剂的巨大潜力，但这一潜力尚未完全实现。噬菌体治疗的新兴领域受到不充分的对照试验和抗生素的发现的不利影响。尽管噬菌体作为抗感染剂的研究进展缓慢，但噬菌体在分子生物学的发展中发挥了重要作用。近年来，多重耐药细菌的增加重新引起了人们对使用噬菌体作为抗菌剂的兴趣。利用基因工程提供的广泛可能性，这些细菌病毒正在被修改以精确控制和检测细菌，并作为抗菌药物的新来源。在抗菌活性以外的应用中，噬菌体还被开发为药物输送和疫苗以及新材料组装的载体。本综述重点介绍了用于所有这些目的的噬菌体工程技术的进步，并讨论了现有的挑战和未来工作的机遇。