Limited MDR efflux pump overexpression among multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli of ST131.

Limited MDR efflux pump overexpression among multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli of ST131. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2021 Jan 19;: Authors: Camp J, Schuster S, Vavra M, Schweigger T, Rossen JWA, Reuter S, Kern WV Abstract Gram-negative bacteria partly rely on efflux pumps to facilitate growth under stressful conditions and to increase resistance to a wide variety of commonly used drugs. In recent years E. coli ST131 has emerged as a major cause of extraintestinal infection frequently exhibiting an MDR phenotype. The contribution of efflux to MDR in emerging E. coli MDR clones however, is not well studied. We characterized strains from an international collection of clinical MDR-E. coli isolates by MIC testing with and without the addition of the AcrAB-TolC efflux inhibitor 1-(1-naphthylmethyl)-piperazine (NMP). MIC data for 6 antimicrobial agents and their reversion by NMP were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). PCA revealed a group of 17/34 MDR-E. coli exhibiting increased susceptibility to treatment with NMP suggesting an enhanced contribution of efflux pumps to antimicrobial resistance in these strains (termed "enhanced efflux phenotype" [EEP]). Only 1/17 EEP strains versus 12/17 non-EEP MDR strains belonged to the ST131 clonal group. Whole-genome sequencing revealed marked differences in efflux-related genes between EEP and control strains, with the majority of notable amino-acid substitutions occurring in AcrR, ...
Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Source Type: research