Multidrug resistance in Candida albicans: disruption of the BENr gene

The BENr gene of Candida albicans, which confers resistance on susceptible strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to six structurally and functionally unrelated drugs, was described recently (R. Ben-Yaacov, S. Knoller, G. Caldwell, J. M. Becker, and Y. Koltin, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 38:648-652, 1994). This gene bears similarity to membrane proteins encoding antibiotic resistance in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The effect of disruption of this gene on viability and drug susceptibility was determined. The results indicate that the gene is not essential but its inactivation leads to susceptibility to three of the four drugs tested. Inactivation of this gene did not increase the susceptibility of the mutant to benomyl, suggesting that C. albicans has other mechanisms of resistance, some of which may be additional efflux pumps that confer resistance to this tubulin-destabilizing agent.