BC4707 is a major facilitator superfamily multidrug resistance transport protein from Bacillus cereus implicated in fluoroquinolone tolerance

• Published in: PloS one 2012-05, Vol.7 (5), p.e36720-e36720
• Main Authors: Simm, Roger, Vörös, Aniko, Ekman, Jaakko V, Sødring, Marianne, Nes, Ingerid, Kroeger, Jasmin K, Saidijam, Massoud, Bettaney, Kim E, Henderson, Peter J F, Salkinoja-Salonen, Mirja, Kolstø, Anne-Brit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activation; Analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics; Bacillus anthracis; Bacillus cereus; Bacillus cereus - drug effects; Bacillus cereus - growth & development; Bacillus cereus - metabolism; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - physiology; Bile; Bile Acids and Salts - metabolism; Bile salts; Bioinformatics; Biological & chemical weapons; Biology; Cell division; Deactivation; Drug Resistance, Multiple; E coli; Efflux; Escherichia coli; Fluoroquinolones - pharmacology; Gene Silencing; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Genomics; Homeostasis; Inactivation; Laboratories; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microbial drug resistance; Molecular biology; Multidrug resistance; Multidrug resistant organisms; Norfloxacin; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Pathogens; Pharmaceuticals; Pharmacy; Physiological aspects; Protein Transport; Proteins; Salts; Stress, Physiological; Transcription; Transcription (Genetics); Transcription, Genetic; Xenobiotics
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036720

Transcriptional profiling highlighted a subset of genes encoding putative multidrug transporters in the pathogen Bacillus cereus that were up-regulated during stress produced by bile salts. One of these multidrug transporters (BC4707) was selected for investigation. Functional characterization of the BC4707 protein in Escherichia coli revealed a role in the energized efflux of xenobiotics. Phenotypic analyses after inactivation of the gene bc4707 in Bacillus cereus ATCC14579 suggested a more specific, but modest role in the efflux of norfloxacin. In addition to this, transcriptional analyses showed that BC4707 is also expressed during growth of B. cereus under non-stressful conditions where it may have a role in the normal physiology of the bacteria. Altogether, the results indicate that bc4707, which is part of the core genome of the B. cereus group of bacteria, encodes a multidrug resistance efflux protein that is likely involved in maintaining intracellular homeostasis during growth of the bacteria.