Multidrug resistance pump

Multidrug resistance pumps (MDR pumps) are a type of efflux pump and P-glycoprotein. MDR pumps in the cell membrane pump many foreign substances out of the cells.[1] More formally, it is an ATP-dependent efflux pump with broad substrate specificity. It exists in animals, fungi, and bacteria and likely evolved as a defense mechanism against harmful substances. With the increasing use of antibiotics has come the increasing resistance to many antibiotics. Pathogenic bacterial and fungal species have developed MDR pumps which efflux out many antibiotics and antifungals rendering them useless against a infection.

References

  1. ↑ Laura J. V. Piddock (2006). "Multidrug-resistance efflux pumps ? not just for resistance". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 4: 629–636. doi:10.1038/nrmicro1464.
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