Investigating multidrug efflux pumps associated with fatty acid salt resistance in Escherichia coli

Seiji Yamasaki; Tomohiro Yoneda; Sota Ikawa; Mitsuko Hayashi-Nishino; Kunihiko Nishino

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.954304

Investigating multidrug efflux pumps associated with fatty acid salt resistance in Escherichia coli

Front Microbiol. 2023 Feb 21:14:954304. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.954304. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Seiji Yamasaki^{1

2

3}, Tomohiro Yoneda^{1

2}, Sota Ikawa^{1

2}, Mitsuko Hayashi-Nishino^{1

2}, Kunihiko Nishino^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
² Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
³ Institute for Advanced Co-Creation Studies, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
⁴ Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

Abstract

Fatty acids salts exert bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects that inhibit bacterial growth and survival. However, bacteria can overcome these effects and adapt to their environment. Bacterial efflux systems are associated with resistance to different toxic compounds. Here, several bacterial efflux systems were examined to determine their influence on fatty acid salt resistance in Escherichia coli. Both acrAB and tolC E. coli deletion strains were susceptible to fatty acid salts, while plasmids carrying acrAB, acrEF, mdtABC, or emrAB conferred drug resistance to the ΔacrAB mutant, which indicated complementary roles for these multidrug efflux pumps. Our data exemplify the importance of bacterial efflux systems in E. coli resistance to fatty acid salts.

Keywords: Escherichia coli; bacteria; fatty acid salts; multidrug efflux pump; resistance.