scholarly journals Differential Requirement of the Transcription Factor Mcm1 for Activation of the Candida albicans Multidrug Efflux PumpMDR1by Its Regulators Mrr1 and Cap1

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 2061-2066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selene Mogavero ◽  
Arianna Tavanti ◽  
Sonia Senesi ◽  
P. David Rogers ◽  
Joachim Morschhäuser

ABSTRACTOverexpression of the multidrug efflux pump Mdr1 causes increased fluconazole resistance in the pathogenic yeastCandida albicans. The transcription factors Mrr1 and Cap1 mediateMDR1upregulation in response to inducing stimuli, and gain-of-function mutations in Mrr1 or Cap1, which render the transcription factors hyperactive, result in constitutiveMDR1overexpression. The essential MADS box transcription factor Mcm1 also binds to theMDR1promoter, but its role in inducible or constitutiveMDR1upregulation is unknown. Using a conditional mutant in which Mcm1 can be depleted from the cells, we investigated the importance of Mcm1 forMDR1expression. We found that Mcm1 was dispensable forMDR1upregulation by H2O2but was required for fullMDR1induction by benomyl. A C-terminally truncated, hyperactive Cap1 could upregulateMDR1expression both in the presence and in the absence of Mcm1. In contrast, a hyperactive Mrr1 containing a gain-of-function mutation depended on Mcm1 to causeMDR1overexpression. These results demonstrate a differential requirement for the coregulator Mcm1 for Cap1- and Mrr1-mediatedMDR1upregulation. When activated by oxidative stress or a gain-of-function mutation, Cap1 can induceMDR1expression independently of Mcm1, whereas Mrr1 requires either Mcm1 or an active Cap1 to cause overexpression of theMDR1efflux pump. Our findings provide more detailed insight into the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in this important human fungal pathogen.

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (9) ◽  
pp. 5102-5110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Ramírez-Zavala ◽  
Selene Mogavero ◽  
Eva Schöller ◽  
Christoph Sasse ◽  
P. David Rogers ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOverexpression of the multidrug efflux pumpMDR1is one mechanism by which the pathogenic yeastCandida albicansdevelops resistance to the antifungal drug fluconazole. The constitutive upregulation ofMDR1in fluconazole-resistant, clinicalC. albicansisolates is caused by gain-of-function mutations in the zinc cluster transcription factor Mrr1. It has been suggested that Mrr1 activatesMDR1transcription by recruiting Ada2, a subunit of the SAGA/ADA coactivator complex. However,MDR1expression is also regulated by the bZIP transcription factor Cap1, which mediates the oxidative stress response inC. albicans. Here, we show that a hyperactive Mrr1 containing a gain-of-function mutation promotesMDR1overexpression independently of Ada2. In contrast, a C-terminally truncated, hyperactive Cap1 causedMDR1overexpression in a wild-type strain but only weakly in mutants lackingADA2. In the presence of benomyl or H2O2, compounds that induceMDR1expression in an Mrr1- and Cap1-dependent fashion,MDR1was upregulated with the same efficiency in wild-type andada2Δ cells. These results indicate that Cap1, but not Mrr1, recruits Ada2 to theMDR1promoter to induce the expression of this multidrug efflux pump and that Ada2 is not required forMDR1overexpression in fluconazole-resistantC. albicansstrains containing gain-of-function mutations in Mrr1.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongle Liu ◽  
John M. Rossi ◽  
Lawrence C. Myers

ABSTRACT Farnesol, a quorum-sensing molecule, inhibits Candida albicans hyphal formation, affects its biofilm formation and dispersal, and impacts its stress response. Several aspects of farnesol's mechanism of action remain incompletely uncharacterized. Among these are a thorough accounting of the cellular receptors and transporters for farnesol. This work suggests these processes are linked through the Zn cluster transcription factors Tac1 and Znc1 and their induction of the multidrug efflux pump Cdr1. Specifically, we have demonstrated that Tac1 and Znc1 are functionally activated by farnesol through a mechanism that mimics other means of hyperactivation of Zn cluster transcription factors. This is consistent with our observation that many genes acutely induced by farnesol are dependent on TAC1, ZNC1, or both. A related molecule, 1-dodecanol, invokes a similar TAC1-ZNC1 response, while several other proposed C. albicans quorum-sensing molecules do not. Tac1 and Znc1 both bind to and upregulate the CDR1 promoter in response to farnesol. Differences in inducer and DNA binding specificity lead to Tac1 and Znc1 having overlapping, but nonidentical, regulons. Induction of genes by farnesol via Tac1 and Znc1 was inversely related to the level of CDR1 present in the cell, suggesting a model in which induction of CDR1 by Tac1 and Znc1 leads to an increase in farnesol efflux. Consistent with this premise, our results show that CDR1 expression, and its regulation by TAC1 and ZNC1, facilitates growth in the presence of high farnesol concentrations in C. albicans and in certain strains of its close relative, C. dubliniensis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 4490-4494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Sasse ◽  
Rebecca Schillig ◽  
Alexandra Reimund ◽  
Julia Merk ◽  
Joachim Morschhäuser

ABSTRACTOverexpression of the multidrug efflux pumpMDR1confers resistance to the antifungal drug fluconazole onCandida albicans. It has been reported that two types ofMDR1promoters exist inC. albicansand that homozygosity for the allele with higher activity may promote fluconazole resistance. We found that the twoMDR1promoter alleles in strain SC5314 were equally well activated by inducing chemicals or hyperactive forms of the transcription factors Mrr1 and Cap1, which controlMDR1expression. In addition, no loss of heterozygosity at theMDR1locus was observed inMDR1-overexpressing clinicalC. albicansstrains that developed fluconazole resistance during therapy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1110-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Schubert ◽  
Christina Popp ◽  
P. David Rogers ◽  
Joachim Morschhäuser

ABSTRACTThe overexpression of theMDR1gene, which encodes a multidrug efflux pump of the major facilitator superfamily, is a frequent cause of resistance to the widely used antimycotic agent fluconazole and other toxic compounds in the pathogenic yeastCandida albicans. The zinc cluster transcription factor Mrr1 controlsMDR1expression in response to inducing chemicals, and gain-of-function mutations inMRR1are responsible for the constitutiveMDR1upregulation in fluconazole-resistantC. albicansstrains. To understand how Mrr1 activity is regulated, we identified functional domains of this transcription factor. A hybrid protein consisting of the N-terminal 106 amino acids of Mrr1 and the transcriptional activation domain of Gal4 fromSaccharomyces cerevisiaeconstitutively inducedMDR1expression, demonstrating that the DNA binding domain is sufficient to target Mrr1 to theMDR1promoter. Using a series of C-terminal truncations and systematic internal deletions, we could show that Mrr1 contains multiple activation and inhibitory domains. One activation domain (AD1) is located in the C terminus of Mrr1. When fused to the tetracycline repressor TetR, this distal activation domain induced gene expression from a TetR-dependent promoter. The deletion of an inhibitory region (ID1) located near the distal activation domain resulted in constitutive activity of Mrr1. The additional removal of AD1 abolished the constitutive activity, but the truncated Mrr1 still could activate theMDR1promoter in response to the inducer benomyl. These results demonstrate that the activity of Mrr1 is regulated in multiple ways and provide insights into the function of an important mediator of drug resistance inC. albicans.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 604-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Hennicke ◽  
Maria Grumbt ◽  
Ulrich Lermann ◽  
Nico Ueberschaar ◽  
Katja Palige ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe amino acid cysteine has long been known to be toxic at elevated levels for bacteria, fungi, and humans. However, mechanisms of cysteine tolerance in microbes remain largely obscure. Here we show that the human pathogenic yeastCandida albicansexcretes sulfite when confronted with increasing cysteine concentrations. Mutant construction and phenotypic analysis revealed that sulfite formation from cysteine inC. albicansrelies on cysteine dioxygenase Cdg1, an enzyme with similar functions in humans. Environmental cysteine induced not only the expression of theCDG1gene inC. albicans, but also the expression ofSSU1, encoding a putative sulfite efflux pump. Accordingly, the deletion ofSSU1resulted in enhanced sensitivity of the fungal cells to both cysteine and sulfite. To study the regulation of sulfite/cysteine tolerance in more detail, we screened aC. albicanslibrary of transcription factor mutants in the presence of sulfite. This approach and subsequent independent mutant analysis identified the zinc cluster transcription factor Zcf2 to govern sulfite/cysteine tolerance, as well as cysteine-inducibleSSU1andCDG1gene expression.cdg1Δ andssu1Δ mutants displayed reduced hypha formation in the presence of cysteine, indicating a possible role of the newly proposed mechanisms of cysteine tolerance and sulfite secretion in the pathogenicity ofC. albicans. Moreover,cdg1Δ mutants induced delayed mortality in a mouse model of disseminated infection. Since sulfite is toxic and a potent reducing agent, its production byC. albicanssuggests diverse roles during host adaptation and pathogenicity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 2212-2223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Schubert ◽  
Katherine S. Barker ◽  
Sadri Znaidi ◽  
Sabrina Schneider ◽  
Franziska Dierolf ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTConstitutive overexpression of the Mdr1 efflux pump is an important mechanism of acquired drug resistance in the yeastCandida albicans. The zinc cluster transcription factor Mrr1 is a central regulator ofMDR1expression, but other transcription factors have also been implicated inMDR1regulation. To better understand howMDR1-mediated drug resistance is achieved in this fungal pathogen, we studied the interdependence of Mrr1 and two otherMDR1regulators, Upc2 and Cap1, in the control ofMDR1expression. A mutated, constitutively active Mrr1 could upregulateMDR1and confer drug resistance in the absence of Upc2 or Cap1. On the other hand, Upc2 containing a gain-of-function mutation only slightly activated theMDR1promoter, and this activation depended on the presence of a functionalMRR1gene. In contrast, a C-terminally truncated, activated form of Cap1 could upregulateMDR1in a partially Mrr1-independent fashion. The induction ofMDR1expression by toxic chemicals occurred independently of Upc2 but required the presence of Mrr1 and also partially depended on Cap1. Transcriptional profiling andin vivoDNA binding studies showed that a constitutively active Mrr1 binds to and upregulates most of its direct target genes in the presence or absence of Cap1. Therefore, Mrr1 and Cap1 cooperate in the environmental induction ofMDR1expression in wild-typeC. albicans, but gain-of-function mutations in either of the two transcription factors can independently mediate efflux pump overexpression and drug resistance.


mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meinan Lyu ◽  
Mitchell A. Moseng ◽  
Jennifer L. Reimche ◽  
Concerta L. Holley ◽  
Vijaya Dhulipala ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an obligate human pathogen and causative agent of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) gonorrhea. The most predominant and clinically important multidrug efflux system in N. gonorrhoeae is the multiple transferrable resistance (Mtr) pump, which mediates resistance to a number of different classes of structurally diverse antimicrobial agents, including clinically used antibiotics (e.g., β-lactams and macrolides), dyes, detergents and host-derived antimicrobials (e.g., cationic antimicrobial peptides and bile salts). Recently, it has been found that gonococci bearing mosaic-like sequences within the mtrD gene can result in amino acid changes that increase the MtrD multidrug efflux pump activity, probably by influencing antimicrobial recognition and/or extrusion to elevate the level of antibiotic resistance. Here, we report drug-bound solution structures of the MtrD multidrug efflux pump carrying a mosaic-like sequence using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, with the antibiotics bound deeply inside the periplasmic domain of the pump. Through this structural approach coupled with genetic studies, we identify critical amino acids that are important for drug resistance and propose a mechanism for proton translocation. IMPORTANCE Neisseria gonorrhoeae has become a highly antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative pathogen. Multidrug efflux is a major mechanism that N. gonorrhoeae uses to counteract the action of multiple classes of antibiotics. It appears that gonococci bearing mosaic-like sequences within the gene mtrD, encoding the most predominant and clinically important transporter of any gonococcal multidrug efflux pump, significantly elevate drug resistance and enhance transport function. Here, we report cryo-electron microscopy (EM) structures of N. gonorrhoeae MtrD carrying a mosaic-like sequence that allow us to understand the mechanism of drug recognition. Our work will ultimately inform structure-guided drug design for inhibiting these critical multidrug efflux pumps.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon R. Coleman ◽  
Travis Blimkie ◽  
Reza Falsafi ◽  
Robert E. W. Hancock

ABSTRACT Swarming surface motility is a complex adaptation leading to multidrug antibiotic resistance and virulence factor production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, we expanded previous studies to demonstrate that under swarming conditions, P. aeruginosa PA14 is more resistant to multiple antibiotics, including aminoglycosides, β-lactams, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, trimethoprim, and macrolides, than swimming cells, but is not more resistant to polymyxin B. We investigated the mechanism(s) of swarming-mediated antibiotic resistance by examining the transcriptomes of swarming cells and swarming cells treated with tobramycin by transcriptomics (RNA-Seq) and reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). RNA-Seq of swarming cells (versus swimming) revealed 1,581 dysregulated genes, including 104 transcriptional regulators, two-component systems, and sigma factors, numerous upregulated virulence and iron acquisition factors, and downregulated ribosomal genes. Strain PA14 mutants in resistome genes that were dysregulated under swarming conditions were tested for their ability to swarm in the presence of tobramycin. In total, 41 mutants in genes dysregulated under swarming conditions were shown to be more resistant to tobramycin under swarming conditions, indicating that swarming-mediated tobramycin resistance was multideterminant. Focusing on two genes downregulated under swarming conditions, both prtN and wbpW mutants were more resistant to tobramycin, while the prtN mutant was additionally resistant to trimethoprim under swarming conditions; complementation of these mutants restored susceptibility. RNA-Seq of swarming cells treated with subinhibitory concentrations of tobramycin revealed the upregulation of the multidrug efflux pump MexXY and downregulation of virulence factors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack R. Davison ◽  
Katheryn M. Lohith ◽  
Xiaoning Wang ◽  
Kostyantyn Bobyk ◽  
Sivakoteswara R. Mandadapu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The permeation of antibiotics through bacterial membranes to their target site is a crucial determinant of drug activity but in many cases remains poorly understood. During screening efforts to discover new broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds from marine sponge samples, we identified a new analog of the peptidyl nucleoside antibiotic blasticidin S that exhibited up to 16-fold-improved potency against a range of laboratory and clinical bacterial strains which we named P10. Whole-genome sequencing of laboratory-evolved strains of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to blasticidin S and P10, combined with genome-wide assessment of the fitness of barcoded Escherichia coli knockout strains in the presence of the antibiotics, revealed that restriction of cellular access was a key feature in the development of resistance to this class of drug. In particular, the gene encoding the well-characterized multidrug efflux pump NorA was found to be mutated in 69% of all S. aureus isolates resistant to blasticidin S or P10. Unexpectedly, resistance was associated with inactivation of norA, suggesting that the NorA transporter facilitates cellular entry of peptidyl nucleosides in addition to its known role in the efflux of diverse compounds, including fluoroquinolone antibiotics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 6224-6234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attilio V. Vargiu ◽  
Paolo Ruggerone ◽  
Timothy J. Opperman ◽  
Son T. Nguyen ◽  
Hiroshi Nikaido

ABSTRACTEfflux pumps of the resistance nodulation division (RND) superfamily, such as AcrB, make a major contribution to multidrug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. The development of inhibitors of the RND pumps would improve the efficacy of current and next-generation antibiotics. To date, however, only one inhibitor has been cocrystallized with AcrB. Thus,in silicostructure-based analysis is essential for elucidating the interaction between other inhibitors and the efflux pumps. In this work, we used computer docking and molecular dynamics simulations to study the interaction between AcrB and the compound MBX2319, a novel pyranopyridine efflux pump inhibitor with potent activity against RND efflux pumps ofEnterobacteriaceaespecies, as well as other known inhibitors (D13-9001, 1-[1-naphthylmethyl]-piperazine, and phenylalanylarginine-β-naphthylamide) and the binding of doxorubicin to the efflux-defective F610A variant of AcrB. We also analyzed the binding of a substrate, minocycline, for comparison. Our results show that MBX2319 binds very tightly to the lower part of the distal pocket in the B protomer of AcrB, strongly interacting with the phenylalanines lining the hydrophobic trap, where the hydrophobic portion of D13-9001 was found to bind by X-ray crystallography. Additionally, MBX2319 binds to AcrB in a manner that is similar to the way in which doxorubicin binds to the F610A variant of AcrB. In contrast, 1-(1-naphthylmethyl)-piperazine and phenylalanylarginine-β-naphthylamide appear to bind to somewhat different areas of the distal pocket in the B protomer of AcrB than does MBX2319. However, all inhibitors (except D13-9001) appear to distort the structure of the distal pocket, impairing the proper binding of substrates.


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