Alcalde-Rico Manuel, Hernando-Amado Sara, Blanco Paula, Martínez José L
Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid, Spain.
Front Microbiol. 2016 Sep 21;7:1483. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01483. eCollection 2016.
Multidrug efflux pumps can be involved in bacterial resistance to antibiotics at different levels. Some efflux pumps are constitutively expressed at low levels and contribute to intrinsic resistance. In addition, their overexpression may allow higher levels of resistance. This overexpression can be transient, in the presence of an effector (phenotypic resistance), or constitutive when mutants in the regulatory elements of the expression of efflux pumps are selected (acquired resistance). Efflux pumps are present in all cells, from human to bacteria and are highly conserved, which indicates that they are ancient elements in the evolution of different organisms. Consequently, it has been suggested that, besides antibiotic resistance, bacterial multidrug efflux pumps would likely contribute to other relevant processes of the microbial physiology. In the current article, we discuss some specific examples of the role that efflux pumps may have in the bacterial virulence of animals' and plants' pathogens, including the processes of intercellular communication. Based in these evidences, we propose that efflux pumps are at the crossroad between resistance and virulence of bacterial pathogens. Consequently, the comprehensive study of multidrug efflux pumps requires addressing these functions, which are of relevance for the bacterial-host interactions during infection.
多药外排泵可在不同水平上参与细菌对抗生素的耐药性。一些外排泵以低水平组成型表达，并导致固有耐药性。此外，它们的过表达可能导致更高水平的耐药性。这种过表达可以是短暂的，在存在效应物的情况下（表型耐药），或者当选择外排泵表达调控元件中的突变体时是组成型的（获得性耐药）。外排泵存在于从人类到细菌的所有细胞中，并且高度保守，这表明它们是不同生物体进化中的古老元件。因此，有人提出，除了抗生素耐药性外，细菌多药外排泵可能还对微生物生理学的其他相关过程有贡献。在本文中，我们讨论了外排泵在动植物病原体细菌毒力中可能发挥的作用的一些具体例子，包括细胞间通讯过程。基于这些证据，我们提出外排泵处于细菌病原体耐药性和毒力的交叉点。因此，对多药外排泵的全面研究需要考虑这些功能，它们与感染期间细菌与宿主的相互作用相关。
