title: Multidrug-resistance efflux pumps - not just for resistance.
abstract: It is well established that multidrug-resistance efflux pumps encoded by bacteria can confer clinically relevant resistance to antibiotics. It is now understood that these efflux pumps also have a physiological role(s). They can confer resistance to natural substances produced by the host, including bile, hormones and host-defence molecules. In addition, some efflux pumps of the resistance nodulation division (RND) family have been shown to have a role in the colonization and the persistence of bacteria in the host. Here, I present the accumulating evidence that multidrug-resistance efflux pumps have roles in bacterial pathogenicity and propose that these pumps therefore have greater clinical relevance than is usually attributed to them.
authors.affiliation: Antimicrobial Agents Research Group, Division of Immunity and Infection, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. l.j.v.piddock@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Laura J V
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Piddock
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000502:physiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014774:Virulence / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins; C493251:AcrAB-TolC protein, Salmonella enterica; C118598:MexA protein, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; C118597:MexB protein, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; C073126:tolC protein, E coli