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Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Antibiotic Resistance Research Using an Efflux-Deficient Bacterial Strain and a Single-Copy Gene Expression System
Published on: January 5, 2024
Efflux pump-mediated resistance to new beta lactam antibiotics in multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria
Augusto Dulanto Chiang1,2, John P Dekker3,4
1Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Abstract:
The emergence and spread of bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics poses a critical threat to modern medical practice. Multiple classes of bacterial efflux pump systems play various roles in antibiotic resistance, and members of the resistance-nodulation-division (RND) transporter superfamily are among the most important determinants of efflux-mediated resistance in gram-negative bacteria. RND pumps demonstrate broad substrate specificities, facilitating extrusion of multiple chemical classes of antibiotics from the bacterial cell. Several newer beta-lactams and beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations (BL/BLI) have been developed to treat infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria. Here we review recent studies that suggest RND efflux pumps in clinically relevant gram-negative bacteria may play critical but underappreciated roles in the development of resistance to beta-lactams and novel BL/BLI combinations. Improved understanding of the genetic and structural basis of RND efflux pump-mediated resistance may identify new antibiotic targets as well as strategies to minimize the emergence of resistance.
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