scholarly journals Berberine reverses multidrug resistance in Candida albicans by hijacking the drug efflux pump Mdr1p

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaojun Tong ◽  
Nuo Sun ◽  
Xiangming Wang ◽  
Qi Wei ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractClinical use of antimicrobials faces great challenges from the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens. The overexpression of drug efflux pumps is one of the major contributors to MDR. It is considered as a promising approach to overcome MDR by reversing the function of drug efflux pumps. In the life-threatening fungal pathogen Candida albicans, the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter Mdr1p can excrete many structurally unrelated antifungals, leading to multidrug resistance. Here we report a counterintuitive case of reversing multidrug resistance in C. albicans by using a natural product berberine to hijack the overexpressed Mdr1p for its own importation. Moreover, we illustrate that the imported berberine accumulates in mitochondria, and compromises the mitochondrial function by impairing mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial Complex I. It results in the selective elimination of Mdr1p overexpressed C. albicans cells. Furthermore, we show that berberine treatment can prolong the mean survival time (MST) of mice with a blood-borne dissemination of Mdr1p overexpressed multidrug resistant candidiasis. This study provided a potential direction of novel anti-MDR drug discovery by screening for multidrug efflux pump converters.

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sneh Lata Panwar ◽  
Ritu Pasrija ◽  
Rajendra Prasad

The development of MDR (multidrug resistance) in yeast is due to a number of mechanisms. The most documented mechanism is enhanced extrusion of drugs mediated by efflux pump proteins belonging to either the ABC (ATP-binding cassette) superfamily or MFS (major facilitator superfamily). These drug-efflux pump proteins are localized on the plasma membrane, and the milieu therein affects their proper functioning. Several recent studies demonstrate that fluctuations in membrane lipid composition affect the localization and proper functioning of the MDR efflux pump proteins. Interestingly, the efflux pumps of the ABC superfamily are particularly susceptible to imbalances in membrane-raft lipid constituents. This review focuses on the importance of the membrane environment in functioning of the drug-efflux pumps and explores a correlation between MDR and membrane lipid homoeostasis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vartika Srivastava ◽  
Aijaz Ahmad

Background: Candida auris, a decade old Candida species, has been identified globally as a significant nosocomial multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogen responsible for causing invasive outbreaks. Biofilms and over expression of efflux pumps such as Major Facilitator Superfamily and ATP Binding Cassette are known to cause multidrug resistance in Candida species, including C. auris. Therefore, targeting these factors may prove an effective approach to combat MDR in C. auris. Methods: In this study, 25 clinical isolates of C. auris from different hospitals of South Africa were used. Antifungal susceptibility profile of all the isolates against commonly used drugs was determined following CLSI recommended guidelines. Rhodamine-6-G extracellular efflux and intracellular accumulation assays were used to study active drug efflux mechanism. We further studied the role of farnesol in modulating development of biofilms and drug efflux in C. auris. Down-regulation of biofilm- and efflux pump- associated genes by farnesol was also investigated. CLSM analysis for examining C. auris biofilm architecture among treated and untreated isolates. Results: Most of the isolates (twenty-two) were found resistant to FLZ whereas five were resistant to AmB. All the isolates were found capable of biofilm formation and ornamented with active drug efflux mechanism. The MIC for planktonic cells ranged from 62.5-125 mM and for sessile cells was 125 mM (0 h and 4 h biofilm) and 500 mM (12 h and 24 h biofilm), CLSM studies also confirmed these findings. Farnesol also blocked efflux pumps and down-regulated biofilm- and efflux pump- associated genes. Conclusion: Modulation of biofilm- and efflux pump- associated genes by farnesol represent a promising approach in combating C. auris infection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoran Ge ◽  
Yuying Cai ◽  
Zhenghong Chen ◽  
Sizhe Gao ◽  
Xiwen Geng ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe drug resistance ofHelicobacter pyloriis gradually becoming a serious problem. Biofilm formation is an important factor that leads to multidrug resistance (MDR) in bacteria. The ability ofH. pylorito form biofilms on the gastric mucosa is known. However, there are few studies on the regulatory mechanisms ofH. pyloribiofilm formation and multidrug resistance. Guanosine 3′-diphosphate 5′-triphosphate and guanosine 3′,5′-bispyrophosphate [(p)ppGpp] are global regulatory factors and are synthesized inH. pyloriby the bifunctional enzyme SpoT. It has been reported that (p)ppGpp is involved in the biofilm formation and multidrug resistance of various bacteria. In this study, we found that SpoT also plays an important role inH. pyloribiofilm formation and multidrug resistance. Therefore, it was necessary to carry out some further studies regarding its regulatory mechanism. Considering that efflux pumps are of great importance in the biofilm formation and multidrug resistance of bacteria, we tried to determine whether efflux pumps controlled by SpoT participate in these activities. We found that Hp1174 (glucose/galactose transporter [gluP]), an efflux pump of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), is highly expressed in biofilm-forming and multidrug-resistant (MDR)H. pyloristrains and is upregulated by SpoT. Through further research, we determined thatgluPis involved inH. pyloribiofilm formation and multidrug resistance. Furthermore, the average expression level ofgluPin the clinical MDR strains (C-MDR) was considerably higher than that in the clinical drug-sensitive strains (C-DSS). Taken together, our results revealed a novel molecular mechanism ofH. pyloriresistance to multidrug exposure.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vartika Srivastava ◽  
Aijaz Ahmad

AbstractCandida auris, a decade old Candida species, has been identified globally as a significant nosocomial multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogen responsible for causing invasive outbreaks. Biofilms and overexpression of efflux pumps such as Major Facilitator Superfamily and ATP Binding Cassette are known to cause multidrug resistance in Candida species, including C. auris. Therefore, targeting these factors may prove an effective approach to combat MDR in C. auris. In this study, 25 clinical isolates of C. auris from different hospitals of South Africa were used. All the isolates were found capable enough to form biofilms on 96-well microtiter plate that was further confirmed by MTT reduction assay. In addition, these strains have active drug efflux mechanism which was supported by rhodamine-6-G extracellular efflux and intracellular accumulation assays. Antifungal susceptibility profile of all the isolates against commonly used drugs was determined following CLSI recommended guidelines. We further studied the role of farnesol, an endogenous quorum sensing molecule, in modulating development of biofilms and drug efflux in C. auris. The MIC for planktonic cells ranged from 62.5-125 mM and for sessile cells was 125 mM (0 h and 4 h biofilm) and 500 mM (12 h and 24 h biofilm). Farnesol inhibited biofilm formation, blocked efflux pumps and downregulated biofilm- and efflux pump-associated genes. Modulation of C. auris biofilm formation and efflux pump activity by farnesol represent a promising approach for controlling life threatening infections caused by this pathogen.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (8) ◽  
pp. 2311-2313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Jack ◽  
Michael L. Storms ◽  
Jason H. Tchieu ◽  
Ian T. Paulsen ◽  
Milton H. Saier

ABSTRACT The Bacillus subtilis genome encodes seven homologues of the small multidrug resistance (SMR) family of drug efflux pumps. Six of these homologues are paired in three distinct operons, and coexpression in Escherichia coli of one such operon,ykkCD, but not expression of either ykkC orykkD alone, gives rise to a broad specificity, multidrug-resistant phenotype including resistance to cationic, anionic, and neutral drugs.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 7679-7689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babajide O. Okandeji ◽  
Daniel M. Greenwald ◽  
Jessica Wroten ◽  
Jason K. Sello

Planta Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (13) ◽  
pp. 1180-1185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shweta Nim ◽  
Andreia Mónico ◽  
Manpreet Rawal ◽  
Noélia Duarte ◽  
Rajendra Prasad ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 2300-2308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davina Hiller ◽  
Stephanie Stahl ◽  
Joachim Morschhäuser

ABSTRACT Overexpression of the MDR1 gene, which encodes a multidrug efflux pump of the major facilitator superfamily, is a frequent cause of resistance to the antimycotic agent fluconazole and other metabolic inhibitors in clinical Candida albicans strains. Constitutive MDR1 overexpression in such strains is caused by mutations in as yet unknown trans-regulatory factors. In order to identify the cis-acting sequences in the MDR1 regulatory region that mediate constitutive MDR1 upregulation, we performed a promoter deletion analysis in the genetic background of an MDR1-overexpressing clinical C. albicans isolate. We found that several different regions in the MDR1 promoter can mediate MDR1 overexpression in this isolate. In contrast, deletion of one of these regions abolished benomyl-induced MDR1 expression in a C. albicans laboratory strain. These results suggest that multiple transcription factors control expression of the MDR1 efflux pump in C. albicans and that the mutation(s) that causes constitutive MDR1 overexpression and drug resistance in clinical C. albicans isolates affects the activities of several of these transcription factors.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (10) ◽  
pp. 4834-4843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Sharma ◽  
Rajendra Prasad

ABSTRACTOverexpression of theCaCDR1-encoded multidrug efflux pump protein CaCdr1p (Candidadrug resistance protein 1), belonging to the ATP binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of transporters, is one of the most prominent contributors of multidrug resistance (MDR) inCandida albicans. Thus, blocking or modulating the function of the drug efflux pumps represents an attractive approach in combating MDR. In the present study, we provide first evidence that the quorum-sensing molecule farnesol (FAR) is a specific modulator of efflux mediated by ABC multidrug transporters, such as CaCdr1p and CaCdr2p ofC. albicansand ScPdr5p ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Interestingly, FAR did not modulate the efflux mediated by the multidrug extrusion pump protein CaMdr1p, belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS). Kinetic data revealed that FAR competitively inhibited rhodamine 6G efflux in CaCdr1p-overexpressing cells, with a simultaneous increase in an apparentKmwithout affecting theVmaxvalues and the ATPase activity. We also observed that when used in combination, FAR at a nontoxic concentration synergized with the drugs at their respective nonlethal concentrations, as was evident from their <0.5 fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) values and from the drop of 14- to 64-fold in the MIC80values in the wild-type strain and in azole-resistant clinical isolates ofC. albicans. Our biochemical experiments revealed that the synergistic interaction of FAR with the drugs led to reactive oxygen species accumulation, which triggered early apoptosis, and that both could be partly reversed by the addition of an antioxidant. Collectively, FAR modulates drug extrusion mediated exclusively by ABC proteins and is synergistic to fluconazole (FLC), ketoconazole (KTC), miconazole (MCZ), and amphotericin (AMB).


2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1126-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Sulavik ◽  
Chad Houseweart ◽  
Christina Cramer ◽  
Nilofer Jiwani ◽  
Nicholas Murgolo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The contribution of seven known and nine predicted genes or operons associated with multidrug resistance to the susceptibility of Escherichia coli W3110 was assessed for 20 different classes of antimicrobial compounds that include antibiotics, antiseptics, detergents, and dyes. Strains were constructed with deletions for genes in the major facilitator superfamily, the resistance nodulation-cell division family, the small multidrug resistance family, the ATP-binding cassette family, and outer membrane factors. The agar dilution MICs of 35 compounds were determined for strains with deletions for multidrug resistance (MDR) pumps. Deletions in acrAB or tolC resulted in increased susceptibilities to the majority of compounds tested. The remaining MDR pump gene deletions resulted in increased susceptibilities to far fewer compounds. The results identify which MDR pumps contribute to intrinsic resistance under the conditions tested and supply practical information useful for designing sensitive assay strains for cell-based screening of antibacterial compounds.


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