RT Journal Article
T1 Bacterial Multidrug Efflux Pumps: Much More Than Antibiotic Resistance Determinants
A1 Blanco, Paula
A1 Hernando-Amado, Sara
A1 Reales Calderón, José Antonio
A1 Corona, Fernando
A1 Lira, Felipe
A1 Alcalde-Rico, Manuel
A1 Bernardini, Alejandra
A1 Sánchez, María Blanca
A1 Martínez, José
AB Bacterial multidrug efflux pumps are antibiotic resistance determinants present in all microorganisms. With few exceptions, they are chromosomally encoded and present a conserved organization both at the genetic and at the protein levels. In addition, most, if not all, strains of a given bacterial species present the same chromosomally-encoded efflux pumps. Altogether this indicates that multidrug efflux pumps are ancient elements encoded in bacterial genomes long before the recent use of antibiotics for human and animal therapy. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that efflux pumps can extrude a wide range of substrates that include, besides antibiotics, heavy metals, organic pollutants, plant-produced compounds, quorum sensing signals or bacterial metabolites, among others. In the current review, we present information on the different functions that multidrug efflux pumps may have for the bacterial behaviour in different habitats as well as on their regulation by specific signals. Since, in addition to their function in non-clinical ecosystems, multidrug efflux pumps contribute to intrinsic, acquired, and phenotypic resistance of bacterial pathogens, the review also presents information on the search for inhibitors of multidrug efflux pumps, which are currently under development, in the aim of increasing the susceptibility of bacterial pathogens to antibiotics.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-2607
YR 2016
FD 2016-02-16
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23893
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23893
LA eng
NO Unión Europea. FP7
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 10 abr 2025