Modulation of antimicrobial efflux pumps of the major facilitator superfamily in Staphylococcus aureus

Variants of the microorganism Staphylococcus aureus which are resistant to antimicrobial agents exist as causative agents of serious infectious disease and constitute a considerable public health concern. One of the main antimicrobial resistance mechanisms harbored by S. aureus pathogens is exemplified by integral membrane transport systems that actively remove antimicrobial agents from bacteria where the cytoplasmic drug targets reside, thus allowing the bacteria to survive and grow. An important class of solute transporter proteins, called the major facilitator superfamily, includes related and homologous passive and secondary active transport systems, many of which are antimicrobial efflux pumps. Transporters of the major facilitator superfamily, which confer antimicrobial efflux and bacterial resistance in S. aureus, are good targets for development of resistance-modifying agents, such as efflux pump inhibition. Such modulatory action upon these antimicrobial efflux systems of the major facilitator superfamily in S. aureus may circumvent resistance and restore the clinical efficacy of therapy towards S. aureus infection.