A key regulatory mechanism of antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic Acinetobacter baumannii
Felise G Adams
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
Molecular Microbiology Lab
College of Science and Engineering
Flinders University
Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Tel: +61 8 8201 5379
Email: felise.adams@flinders.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 38(3) 122-126 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA17046
Published: 9 August 2017
Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen that has become a pressing global health issue in recent decades. Although virulence factors for this pathogen have been identified, details of how they are regulated are largely unknown. One widely employed regulatory mechanism that bacteria, such as A. baumannii, have adopted is through two component signal transduction systems (TCS). TCS consist of two proteins; a histidine kinase and response regulator. The histidine kinase allows the bacterium to sense alterations in the extracellular milieu, transmitting the information to the response regulator which prompts the cell to modify gene expression levels accordingly. Bacteria can encode multiple TCS, where each system can mediate specific responses to particular conditions or stressors. Identifying those conditions in which these TCS are expressed, and the genes they regulate known as their ‘regulon', is vital for understanding how A. baumannii survives and persists within the hospital environment or the human host during infection. As we enter the post-antibiotic era, knowledge of TCS could prove to be invaluable, as they offer an alternative target for the treatment of multidrug resistant bacterial infections.
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