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Author Spotlight: Advancing Antibiotic Resistance Research Using an Efflux-Deficient Bacterial Strain and a Single-Copy Gene Expression System
Published on: January 5, 2024
Assembly and operation of bacterial tripartite multidrug efflux pumps
Dijun Du1, Hendrik W van Veen2, Ben F Luisi1
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK.
Abstract:
Microorganisms encode several classes of transmembrane pumps that can expel an enormous range of toxic substances, thereby improving their fitness in harsh environments and contributing to resistance against antimicrobial agents. In Gram-negative bacteria these pumps can take the form of tripartite assemblies that actively efflux drugs and other harmful compounds across the cell envelope. We describe recent structural and functional data that have provided insights into the transport mechanisms of these intricate molecular machines.
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