Effect of six fluoroquinolones on the expression of four efflux pumps in the multidrug resistant Escherichia coli isolates

Abstract

In this study, a total of 78 Escherichia coli clinical isolates were isolated from canines diagnosed with urinary tract infections. 23/78 isolates (29.5 %) showed multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype, including the isolates both susceptible to fluoroquinolones (FQs) (FQ^S–MDR, n = 12) and resistant to FQs (FQ^R–MDR, n = 11). For these MDR isolates, mutations within quinolone-resistance determining region of gyrA and parC were determined by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing. The relative quantification of emrE, acrB, macB, and mdfA genes expression in MDR isolates was determined by quantitative real-time PCR before and after exposure to the FQs (10 µg/ml). The results showed that a temporary exposure to FQs could lead to various degrees of up or down-regulation on the expression of four efflux pumps in MDR isolates depending on the resistant phenotype and the activities of the FQs. Generally, the FQ^R–MDR isolates showed more obvious changes in average expression levels of these transporters versus the FQ^S–MDR isolates, with a largest increase in emrE, and followed by acrB, while the expression of macB and mdfA did not change as radically. Meanwhile, there is a reverse relationship between the expression changes and the activities of the FQs tested. The expression was higher in the isolates exposed to enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and orbifloxacin, and followed by the marbofloxacin, gatifloxacin, and pradofloxacin, and the average expression levels of some efflux pumps even decreased as the isolates were exposed to gatifloxacin or pradofloxacin.