Role of porins for uptake of antibiotics by Mycobacterium smegmatis.

ABSTRACT: The outer membrane of mycobacteria presents an effective permeability barrier for many antibiotics. Transport pathways across this membrane are unknown for most drugs. Here, we examined which antibiotics utilize the porin pathway across the outer membrane of the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis. Deletion of the porins MspA and MspC drastically increased the resistance of M. smegmatis ML10 to beta-lactam antibiotics, while its beta-lactamase activity remained unchanged. These results are consistent with the ninefold-reduced outer membrane permeability of the M. smegmatis porin mutants for cephaloridine and strongly indicate that beta-lactam antibiotics rely on the porin pathway. The porin mutant ML10 accumulated less chloramphenicol and norfloxacin and was less susceptible to these an

SUBMITTER: Danilchanka O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2533485 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature