Multidrug Efflux Pumps in Staphylococcus aureus: an Update
Open Access
- 22 March 2013
- journal article
- Published by Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. in The Open Microbiology Journal
- Vol. 7 (1), 59-71
- https://doi.org/10.2174/1874285801307010059
Abstract
The emergence of infections caused by multi- or pan-resistant bacteria in the hospital or in the community settings is an increasing health concern. Albeit there is no single resistance mechanism behind multiresistance, multidrug efflux pumps, proteins that cells use to detoxify from noxious compounds, seem to play a key role in the emergence of these multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria. During the last decades, experimental data has established their contribution to low level resistance to antimicrobials in bacteria and their potential role in the appearance of MDR phenotypes, by the extrusion of multiple, unrelated compounds. Recent studies suggest that efflux pumps may be used by the cell as a first-line defense mechanism, avoiding the drug to reach lethal concentrations, until a stable, more efficient alteration occurs, that allows survival in the presence of that agent.In this paper we review the current knowledge on MDR efflux pumps and their intricate regulatory network inStaphylococcus aureus, a major pathogen, responsible from mild to life-threatening infections. Particular emphasis will be given to the potential role thatS. aureusMDR efflux pumps, either chromosomal or plasmid-encoded, have on resistance towards different antimicrobial agents and on the selection of drug - resistant strains. We will also discuss the many questions that still remain on the role of each specific efflux pump and the need to establish appropriate methodological approaches to address all these questions.Keywords
This publication has 141 references indexed in Scilit:
- Waves of resistance: Staphylococcus aureus in the antibiotic eraNature Reviews Microbiology, 2009
- Has the era of untreatable infections arrived?Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2009
- Epidemiology and susceptibilities of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Taiwan: emphasis on chlorhexidine susceptibilityDiagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease, 2009
- Structural and biochemical characterization of MepR, a multidrug binding transcription regulator of the Staphylococcus aureus multidrug efflux pump MepANucleic Acids Research, 2009
- The SarA protein family of Staphylococcus aureusThe International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 2008
- A new oxidative sensing and regulation pathway mediated by the MgrA homologue SarZ in Staphylococcus aureusMolecular Microbiology, 2008
- Multidrug efflux pump overexpression in Staphylococcus aureus after single and multiple in vitro exposures to biocides and dyesMicrobiology, 2008
- Efflux-mediated response of Staphylococcus aureus exposed to ethidium bromideJournal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2008
- Outbreaks Associated with Contaminated Antiseptics and DisinfectantsAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 2007
- Multidrug-resistance efflux pumps ? not just for resistanceNature Reviews Microbiology, 2006