

Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are predicted to cause 10 million annual deaths by 2050 if urgent action is not taken 1. baumannii to survive in hospitals may have evolutionary origins in the transport of polyamine metabolites.Īntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical public health challenge of the twenty-first century.

Our results suggest that the disinfectant resistance capability that allows A. A second clinically-important efflux pump, AdeABC, also contributed to polyamine tolerance. Loss of amvA dramatically reduced tolerance to long-chain polyamines, and these molecules induce expression of amvA through binding to its cognate regulator AmvR. In this study, we investigated the response of Acinetobacter baumannii to polyamines, a widespread, abundant class of amino acid-derived metabolites, which led us to identify long-chain polyamines as natural substrates of the disinfectant efflux pump AmvA.

Understanding their ancestral physiological roles could inform the development of strategies to subvert their activity. Multidrug efflux pumps often transport metabolites, signals and host-derived molecules in addition to antibiotics or biocides. Antimicrobial resistance genes, including multidrug efflux pumps, evolved long before the ubiquitous use of antimicrobials in medicine and infection control.
