Multidrug efflux pumps: structure, function and regulation
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Klaas M. Pos; Dijun Du; Hendrik W. van Veen; Laura J. V. Piddock; Xuan Wang-Kan; Arthur Neuberger; Ben F. Luisi
- Source
- Nature Reviews Microbiology
- Subject
- 0301 basic medicine
030106 microbiology
Virulence
Drug resistance
medicine.disease_cause
Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
Antibiotic resistance
Bacterial Proteins
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Gram-Negative Bacteria
medicine
General Immunology and Microbiology
biology
Structure function
Membrane Transport Proteins
Pathogenic bacteria
Bacterial pathogenesis
biology.organism_classification
Drug Resistance, Multiple
Cell biology
030104 developmental biology
Infectious Diseases
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters
Efflux
Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections
Bacteria
- Language
- ISSN
- 1740-1526
Infections arising from multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria are spreading rapidly throughout the world and threaten to become untreatable. The origins of resistance are numerous and complex, but one underlying factor is the capacity of bacteria to rapidly export drugs through the intrinsic activity of efflux pumps. In this Review, we describe recent advances that have increased our understanding of the structures and molecular mechanisms of multidrug efflux pumps in bacteria. Clinical and laboratory data indicate that efflux pumps function not only in the drug extrusion process but also in virulence and the adaptive responses that contribute to antimicrobial resistance during infection. The emerging picture of the structure, function and regulation of efflux pumps suggests opportunities for countering their activities.