Suchergebnisse

Work in our laboratory is supported by grants BIO2011-25255 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, S2010/BMD2414 (PROMPT) from CAM, Spanish Network for Research on Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD12/0015) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and HEALTH-F3-2011-282004 (EVOTAR) from the European Union. ; S2010/BMD2414/PROMPT ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed

Work in our laboratory is supported by grants BIO2008-00090 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and KBBE-227258 (BIOHYPO), HEALTH-F3-2011-282004 (EVOTAR), and HEALTH-F3-2010-241476 (PAR) from European Union. ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed

Multidrug efflux pumps are chromosomally encoded genetic elements capable of mediating resistance to toxic compounds in several life forms. In bacteria, these elements are involved in intrinsic and acquired resistance to antibiotics. Unlike other well-known horizontally acquired antibiotic resistance determinants, genes encoding for multidrug efflux pumps belong to the core of bacterial genomes and thus have evolved over millions of years. The selective pressure stemming from the use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections is relatively recent in evolutionary terms. Therefore, it is unlikely that these elements have evolved in response to antibiotics. In the last years, several studies have identified numerous functions for efflux pumps that go beyond antibiotic extrusion. In this review we present some examples of these functions that range from bacterial interactions with plant or animal hosts, to the detoxification of metabolic intermediates or the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. ; Work in our laboratory is supported by grants BIO2011-25255 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, PROMPT from CAM, and HEALTH-F3-2011-282004 (EVOTAR) and HEALTH-F3-2010-241476 (PAR) from the European Union. Jorge Olivares is the recipient of a fellowship from the Government of Chile. ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed