Identification and characterization of a novel efflux-related multidrug resistance phenotype in Staphylococcus aureus

Moxifloxacin is a C8-methoxy (C8-OMe) fluoroquinolone that is highly active against Staphylococcus aureus, including many strains resistant to older fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin. Available data indicate that it is a poor substrate for the NorA multidrug efflux pump. We produced a mutant of S. aureus in vitro (SA-K2068) with a novel non-NorA-mediated multidrug resistance phenotype characterized by raised MICs of several fluoroquinolones, including the C8-OMe fluoroquinolones, moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin, and the organic cations ethidium and tetraphenylphosphonium. Reserpine reduced MIC increases by two- to eight-fold. SA-K2068 also demonstrated reduced accumulation of moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin and enoxacin, and increased efflux of ethidium, activities that were completely blocked by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP); competition experiments indicated that a single pump was responsible for the phenotype. The effect of CCCP and ionophores identified the proton motive force as the source of energy for efflux. These data, combined with previous work from our laboratory and genome sequence data, indicate that S. aureus possesses several multidrug efflux pump proteins and it is apparent that C8-OMe fluoroquinolones can be substrates for such pumps.