scholarly journals Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts to octenidine via a combination of efflux and membrane remodelling

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy J. Bock ◽  
Philip M. Ferguson ◽  
Maria Clarke ◽  
Vichayanee Pumpitakkul ◽  
Matthew E. Wand ◽  
...  

AbstractPseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen capable of stably adapting to the antiseptic octenidine by an unknown mechanism. Here we characterise this adaptation, both in the laboratory and a simulated clinical setting, and identify a novel antiseptic resistance mechanism. In both settings, 2 to 4-fold increase in octenidine tolerance was associated with stable mutations and a specific 12 base pair deletion in a putative Tet-repressor family gene (smvR), associated with a constitutive increase in expression of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) efflux pump SmvA. Adaptation to higher octenidine concentrations led to additional stable mutations, most frequently in phosphatidylserine synthase pssA and occasionally in phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase pgsA genes, resulting in octenidine tolerance 16- to 256-fold higher than parental strains. Metabolic changes were consistent with mitigation of oxidative stress and altered plasma membrane composition and order. Mutations in SmvAR and phospholipid synthases enable higher level, synergistic tolerance of octenidine.

2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 5406-5412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody L. Floyd ◽  
Kenneth P. Smith ◽  
Sanath H. Kumar ◽  
Jared T. Floyd ◽  
Manuel F. Varela

ABSTRACT A multidrug efflux pump designated LmrS (lincomycin resistance protein of Staphylococcus aureus), belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) of transporters, was cloned, and the role of LmrS in antimicrobial efflux was evaluated. The highest relative increase in MIC, 16-fold, was observed for linezolid and tetraphenylphosphonium chloride (TPCL), followed by an 8-fold increase for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), trimethoprim, and chloramphenicol. LmrS has 14 predicted membrane-spanning domains and is homologous to putative lincomycin resistance proteins of Bacillus spp., Lactobacillus spp., and Listeria spp.


2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Wand ◽  
Lucy J. Bock ◽  
Laura C. Bonney ◽  
J. Mark Sutton

ABSTRACT Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that is often difficult to treat due to its multidrug resistance (MDR). We have previously shown that K. pneumoniae strains are able to “adapt” (become more resistant) to the widely used bisbiguanide antiseptic chlorhexidine. Here, we investigated the mechanisms responsible for and the phenotypic consequences of chlorhexidine adaptation, with particular reference to antibiotic cross-resistance. In five of six strains, adaptation to chlorhexidine also led to resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin. Here, we show that chlorhexidine adaptation is associated with mutations in the two-component regulator phoPQ and a putative Tet repressor gene (smvR) adjacent to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) efflux pump gene, smvA. Upregulation of smvA (10- to 27-fold) was confirmed in smvR mutant strains, and this effect and the associated phenotype were suppressed when a wild-type copy of smvR was introduced on plasmid pACYC. Upregulation of phoPQ (5- to 15-fold) and phoPQ-regulated genes, pmrD (6- to 19-fold) and pmrK (18- to 64-fold), was confirmed in phoPQ mutant strains. In contrast, adaptation of K. pneumoniae to colistin did not result in increased chlorhexidine resistance despite the presence of mutations in phoQ and elevated phoPQ, pmrD, and pmrK transcript levels. Insertion of a plasmid containing phoPQ from chlorhexidine-adapted strains into wild-type K. pneumoniae resulted in elevated expression levels of phoPQ, pmrD, and pmrK and increased resistance to colistin, but not chlorhexidine. The potential risk of colistin resistance emerging in K. pneumoniae as a consequence of exposure to chlorhexidine has important clinical implications for infection prevention procedures.


Author(s):  
Jurairat Chittrakanwong ◽  
Nisanart Charoenlap ◽  
Skorn Mongkolsuk ◽  
Paiboon Vattanaviboon

The persistence of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, especially in hospital environments where disinfectants are used intensively, is one of the important factors that allow this opportunistic pathogen to establish nosocomial infections. In the present study, we illustrated that S. maltophilia possesses adaptive resistance to the disinfectant benzalkonium chloride (BAC). This BAC adaptation was abolished in the ΔmfsQ mutant, in which a gene encoding an efflux transporter belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) was deleted. The ΔmfsQ mutant also showed increased susceptibility to BAC and chlorhexidine gluconate relative to a parental wild type. The expression of mfsQ increased upon exposure to quaternary ammonium compounds, including BAC. Thus, the results of this study suggest that mfsQ plays a role in both adaptive and non-adaptive protection of S. maltophilia from the toxicity of the disinfectant BAC.


2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. 4673-4677 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Vecchione ◽  
Blair Alexander ◽  
Jason K. Sello

ABSTRACT Chloramphenicol, florfenicol, and thiamphenicol are used as antibacterial drugs in clinical and veterinary medicine. Two efflux pumps of the major facilitator superfamily encoded by the cmlR1 and cmlR2 genes mediate resistance to these antibiotics in Streptomyces coelicolor, a close relative of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The transcription of both genes was observed by reverse transcription-PCR. Disruption of cmlR1 decreased the chloramphenicol MIC 1.6-fold, while disruption of cmlR2 lowered the MIC 16-fold. The chloramphenicol MIC of wild-type S. coelicolor decreased fourfold and eightfold in the presence of reserpine and Phe-Arg-β-naphthylamide, respectively. These compounds are known to potentiate the activity of some antibacterial drugs via efflux pump inhibition. While reserpine is known to potentiate drug activity against gram-positive bacteria, this is the first time that Phe-Arg-β-naphthylamide has been shown to potentiate drug activity against a gram-positive bacterium.


Author(s):  
Camilo Barbosa ◽  
Niels Mahrt ◽  
Julia Bunk ◽  
Matthias Graßer ◽  
Philip Rosenstiel ◽  
...  

Abstract Combination therapy is a common antibiotic treatment strategy that aims at minimizing the risk of resistance evolution in several infectious diseases. Nonetheless, evidence supporting its efficacy against the nosocomial opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa remains elusive. Identification of the possible evolutionary paths to resistance in multidrug environments can help to explain treatment outcome. For this purpose, we here performed whole-genome sequencing of 127 previously evolved populations of P. aeruginosa adapted to sublethal doses of distinct antibiotic combinations and corresponding single-drug treatments, and experimentally characterized several of the identified variants. We found that alterations in the regulation of efflux pumps are the most favored mechanism of resistance, regardless of the environment. Unexpectedly, we repeatedly identified intergenic variants in the adapted populations, often with no additional mutations and usually associated with genes involved in efflux pump expression, possibly indicating a regulatory function of the intergenic regions. The experimental analysis of these variants demonstrated that the intergenic changes caused similar increases in resistance against single and multidrug treatments as those seen for efflux regulatory gene mutants. Surprisingly, we could find no substantial fitness costs for a majority of these variants, most likely enhancing their competitiveness toward sensitive cells, even in antibiotic-free environments. We conclude that the regulation of efflux is a central target of antibiotic-mediated selection in P. aeruginosa and that, importantly, changes in intergenic regions may represent a usually neglected alternative process underlying bacterial resistance evolution, which clearly deserves further attention in the future.


2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 2965-2971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Braibant ◽  
Jacqueline Chevalier ◽  
Elisabeth Chaslus-Dancla ◽  
Jean-Marie Pagès ◽  
Axel Cloeckaert

ABSTRACT The florfenicol-chloramphenicol resistance gene floR from Salmonella enterica was previously identified and postulated to belong to the major facilitator (MF) superfamily of drug exporters. Here, we confirmed a computer-predicted transmembrane topological model of FloR, using the phoA gene fusion method, and classified this protein in the DHA12 family (containing 12 transmembrane domains) of MF efflux transporters. We also showed that FloR is a transporter specific for structurally associated phenicol drugs (chloramphenicol, florfenicol, thiamphenicol) which utilizes the proton motive force to energize an active efflux mechanism. By site-directed mutagenesis of specific charged residues belonging to putative transmembrane segments (TMS), two residues essential for active efflux function, D23 in TMS1 and R109 in TMS4, were identified. Of these, the acidic residue D23 seems to participate directly in the affinity pocket involved in phenicol derivative recognition. A third residue, E283 in TMS9, seems to be necessary for correct membrane folding of the transporter.


Author(s):  
Deepika Rai ◽  
Sarika Mehra

Active efflux of drugs across the membrane is a major survival strategy of bacteria against many drugs. In this work, we characterize an efflux pump EfpA, from the major facilitator superfamily, that is highly conserved among both slow growing and fast-growing mycobacterium species and has been found to be upregulated in many clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The gene encoding EfpA from Mycobacterium smegmatis was over-expressed under both constitutive and an inducible promoter. Expression of efpA gene under both the promoters resulted in greater than 32-fold increased drug tolerance of M. smegmatis cells to many first-line (rifampicin, isoniazid and streptomycin) and second-line (amikacin) anti-tuberculosis drugs. Notably, drug tolerance of M. smegmatis cells to moxifloxacin increased by more than 180-fold when efpA was over-expressed. The increase in minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) correlated with the decreased uptake of drugs including norfloxacin, moxifloxacin and ethidium bromide and the high MIC could be reversed in the presence of an efflux pump inhibitor. A correlation was observed between the MIC of drugs and the efflux pump expression level, suggesting that the latter could be modulated by varying the expression level of the efflux pump. The expression of high levels of efpA did not impact the fitness of the cells when supplemented with glucose.The efpA gene is conserved across both pathogenic and non-pathogenic mycobacteria. The efpA gene from the Mycobacterium bovis BCG/ M. tuberculosis , which is 80% identical to efpA from M. smegmatis , also led to decreased antimicrobial efficacy to many drugs, although the fold-change was lower. When over-expressed in M. bovis BCG, an 8-fold higher drug tolerance to moxifloxacin was observed . This is the first report of an efflux pump from mycobacterium species that leads to higher drug tolerance to moxifloxacin, a promising new drug for the treatment of tuberculosis.


Microbiology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Mc Cay ◽  
Alain A. Ocampo-Sosa ◽  
Gerard T. A. Fleming

This study investigates the link between adaptation to biocides and antibiotics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. An enrichment continuous culture of P. aeruginosa NCIMB 10421 (MIC 25 mg BKC l−1) was operated (D=0.04 h−1, 792 h) with added benzalkonium chloride (BKC). A derivative, PA-29 (696 h), demonstrated a >12-fold decrease in sensitivity to the biocide (MIC >350 mg BKC l−1). The variant demonstrated a 256-fold increase in resistance to ciprofloxacin, with a mutation in the gyrA gene (Thr-83→Ile). Similarly, culturing of the original strain in a continuous-culture system with ciprofloxacin selection pressure led to the evolution of BKC-adapted populations (MIC 100 mg BKC l−1). Efflux pump activity predominantly contributed to the developed phenotype of PA-29. An amino acid substitution (Val-51→Ala) in nfxB, the Mex efflux system regulator gene, was observed for PA-29. Overexpression of both MexAB-OprM and MexCD-OprJ was recorded for PA-29. Similarly, mexR, a repressor of the Mex system, was downregulated. Competition studies were carried out in continuous culture between PA-29 and the original strain (in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of BKC). The outcome of competition was influenced by the concentration of biocide used and the nature of limiting nutrient. The inclusion of 1 mg BKC l−1 in the medium feed was sufficient to select (S=0.011) for the BKC-adapted strain in magnesium-limited culture. Conversely, the presence of 10 mg BKC l−1 in the medium supply was insufficient to select for the same organism (S=−0.017) in the glucose-limited culture. These results indicate the importance of environmental conditions on selection and maintenance of biocide adaptation.


Author(s):  
Zheng Fan ◽  
Xiaolei Pan ◽  
Dan Wang ◽  
Ronghao Chen ◽  
Tongtong Fu ◽  
...  

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that shows high intrinsic resistance to a variety of antibiotics. The MexX-MexY-OprM efflux pump plays an important role in the bacterial resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) is a highly conserved exonuclease that plays important roles in RNA processing and bacterial response to environmental stresses. Previously, we demonstrated that PNPase controls the tolerance to fluoroquinolone antibiotics by influencing the production of pyocin in P. aeruginosa. In this study, we found that mutation of the PNPase coding gene (pnp) in P. aeruginosa increases the bacterial tolerance to aminoglycoside antibiotics. We further demonstrate that upregulation of the mexXY genes is responsible for the increased tolerance in the pnp mutant. Furthermore, our experimental results revealed that PNPase controls translation of the armZ mRNA through its 5′ untranslated region (5′-UTR). ArmZ had previously been shown to positively regulate the expression of mexXY. Therefore, our results revealed a novel role of PNPase in the regulation of armZ and subsequently the MexXY efflux pump.


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