12:00noon Monday 2nd March
Room 208, 2nd floor,
Microbiology building,
720 Cumberland Street
Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry
Antimicrobial resistance is not limited to bacteria and is a problem for fungal pathogens. Candida albicans causes superficial and systemic fungal infections in immunocompromised individuals. These infections are difficult to treat when the C. albicans strain is resistant to antifungal drugs, such as the azoles. One of the most common mechanisms by which fungi can become resistant to antifungals is overexpression of drug efflux pumps. We have used heterologous hyperexpression of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) efflux pump Cdr1, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to study, and devise ways to overcome, antifungal drug resistance. Our expression of efflux pump Cdr1 in S. cerevisiae has enabled us to identify parts of the protein critical for function, and to screen for pump inhibitors. An emerging fungal threat is Candida auris which can develop resistance to multiple classes of antifungals. Our analysis of ABC proteins from this fungus has identified pumps likely to contribute to its drug resistance.
