Moraxella catarrhalis AcrAB-OprM efflux pump contributes to antimicrobial resistance and is enhanced during cold shock response

Spaniol, Violeta; Bernhard, Sara; Aebi, Christoph (2015). Moraxella catarrhalis AcrAB-OprM efflux pump contributes to antimicrobial resistance and is enhanced during cold shock response. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 59(4), pp. 1886-1894. American Society for Microbiology 10.1128/AAC.03727-14

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Moraxella catarrhalis is a common pathogen of the human respiratory tract. Multidrug efflux pumps play a major role in antibiotic resistance and virulence in many Gram-negative organisms. In the present study, the role of the AcrAB-OprM efflux pump in antibiotic resistance was investigated by constructing mutants that lack the acrA, acrB, and oprM genes in M. catarrhalis strain O35E. We observed a moderate (1.5-fold) decrease in the MICs of amoxicillin and cefotaxime and a marked (4.7-fold) decrease in the MICs of clarithromycin for acrA, acrB, and oprM mutants in comparison with the wild-type O35E strain. Exposure of the M. catarrhalis strains O35E and 300 to amoxicillin triggered an increased transcription of all AcrAB-OprM pump genes, and exposure of strains O35E, 300, and 415 to clarithromycin enhanced the expression of acrA and oprM mRNA. Inactivation of the AcrAB-OprM efflux pump genes demonstrated a decreased ability to invade epithelial cells compared to the parental strain, suggesting that acrA, acrB, and oprM are required for efficient invasion of human pharyngeal epithelial cells. Cold shock increases the expression of AcrAB-OprM efflux pump genes in all three M. catarrhalis strains tested. Increased expression of AcrAB-OprM pump genes after cold shock leads to a lower accumulation of Hoechst 33342 (H33342), a substrate of AcrAB-OprM efflux pumps, indicating that cold shock results in increased efflux activity. In conclusion, the AcrAB-OprM efflux pump appears to play a role in the antibiotic resistance and virulence of M. catarrhalis and is involved in the cold shock response.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases > Research

UniBE Contributor:

Spaniol, Violeta, Bernhard, Sara, Aebi, Christoph

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0066-4804

Publisher:

American Society for Microbiology

Language:

English

Submitter:

Anette van Dorland

Date Deposited:

07 Apr 2016 16:27

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:53

Publisher DOI:

10.1128/AAC.03727-14

PubMed ID:

25583725

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.79307

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/79307

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