Analysing the transport of drugs molecules through the bacterial efflux pump.

Shivam Gupta

Bacterial efflux pumps are located in the bacterial cell membrane and play an important role in protecting bacteria against anti-bacterial drugs. Pumps are activated when bacteria sense the presence of drugs via signaling mechanisms which also alter the concentration of pumps in the bacterial cell wall. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is referred to the ability of bacteria to escape therapeutic drugs commonly used to eradicate bacterial infections. Efflux pumps play an important role in developing this resistance. We are studying the molecular mechanism of activation and drug recognition of the efflux pumps with the broad goal of understand efflux pump selectivity. This understanding would potentially assist in developing next generation drug molecules capable of bypassing the efflux pump driven protection mechanism.