Martinez Jose Luis, Sánchez María Blanca, Martínez-Solano Laura, Hernandez Alvaro, Garmendia Leonor, Fajardo Alicia, Alvarez-Ortega Carolina
Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain.
FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2009 Mar;33(2):430-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00157.x. Epub 2009 Jan 15.
Multidrug efflux pumps have emerged as relevant elements in the intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens. In contrast with other antibiotic resistance genes that have been obtained by virulent bacteria through horizontal gene transfer, genes coding for multidrug efflux pumps are present in the chromosomes of all living organisms. In addition, these genes are highly conserved (all members of the same species contain the same efflux pumps) and their expression is tightly regulated. Together, these characteristics suggest that the main function of these systems is not resisting the antibiotics used in therapy and that they should have other roles relevant to the behavior of bacteria in their natural ecosystems. Among the potential roles, it has been demonstrated that efflux pumps are important for processes of detoxification of intracellular metabolites, bacterial virulence in both animal and plant hosts, cell homeostasis and intercellular signal trafficking.
多药外排泵已成为细菌病原体固有和获得性抗生素耐药性的相关因素。与有毒细菌通过水平基因转移获得的其他抗生素耐药基因不同，编码多药外排泵的基因存在于所有生物体的染色体中。此外，这些基因高度保守（同一物种的所有成员都含有相同的外排泵），并且它们的表达受到严格调控。这些特征共同表明，这些系统的主要功能不是抵抗治疗中使用的抗生素，它们应该在细菌在自然生态系统中的行为方面具有其他相关作用。在潜在作用中，已证明外排泵对于细胞内代谢物的解毒过程、在动物和植物宿主中的细菌毒力、细胞稳态和细胞间信号传递很重要。
