Ricerc@Sapienza

Efflux pumps (EPs) are relevant elements present in all organisms and represent a group of proteins involved in the transport process. The main feature is their ability to extrude a large variety of substrates in addition to antibiotics. Efflux pumps share a conserved organization both at genetic and structural level. In many pathogenic bacteria multidrug EPs contribute to the intrinsic or acquired resistance to antibiotics. It has been suggested by several studies that multidrug efflux pumps, in addition to antibiotic resistance, contribute to other relevant processes of microbial physiology, such as the interactions with host cells. Pathogenic bacteria present different infection mechanisms and they are able to survive within the host cell. Escherichia coli is not only a harmless commensal of normal intestinal microflora, but different strains cause intestinal and extraintestinal diseases. Our model sistem is the invasive adherent E. coli (AIEC) which represents a group of pathogenic bacteria that have been implicated in Chron's ileal disease. AIEC strains are able to adhere and invade the intestinal epithelium and replicate rapidly in epithelial cells. After that, AIEC can translocate through the intestinal epithelium into the lamina propria, where bacteria interact and survive within macrophages without inducing cell death. The project presented is aimed at analyzing the different multidrug efflux pumps present in LF82 and their expression profile in order to understand which of them are more induced during the invasion of macrophages and epithelial cells and how they are regulated.