JAC Advance Access originally published online on February 10, 2006
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2006 57(4):757-760; doi:10.1093/jac/dkl023
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Enterobacter gergoviae and the prevalence of efflux in parabens resistance
1 Enveloppe Bactérienne, Perméabilité et Antibiotiques, EA 2197, IFR48, Facultés de Médecine et Pharmacie, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France; 2 INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Université du Québec, Québec, Canada H7V 1B7
Received 13 September 2005; returned 27 October 2005; revised 16 January 2006; accepted 17 January 2006
* Corresponding author. Enveloppe Bactérienne, Perméabilité et Antibiotiques, EA 2197, Facultés de Pharmacie et Médecine, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, Cedex 05, France. Tel: +33-4-91-32-45-29; Fax: +33-4-91-32-46-06; E-mail: Anne.Regli{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr
Objectives: In order to characterize the mechanism involved in parabens resistance, we studied 13 Enterobacter gergoviae collected from diverse cosmetic formulations containing parabens as preservatives and 10 isolates from clinical or industrial sources.
Methods: RAPD and ERIC-PCR were employed and compared for the epidemiological typing. To study antibiotic and paraben susceptibility, the standard disc diffusion method and the 2-fold dilution method in LuriaBertani medium were used. Characterization of porins was performed using immunodetection with polyclonal antibodies. Resistance mechanisms against parabens membrane permeabilization were evaluated by measuring K+ efflux using a specific electrode. mar regulon identification and comparison were carried out.
Results: Epidemiological typing confirmed that most of the cosmetic formulations were contaminated by unrelated strains. All of the E. gergoviae strains presented high methylparaben MICs, ranging from 1 to 3.8 g/L, values that were 25 times higher than for Escherichia coli or Enterobacter aerogenes, even in strains overexpressing MarA. These MICs decreased in the presence of phenylalanine arginine ß-naphthylamide, pinpointing efflux as a major mechanism of parabens resistance even in E. gergoviae clinical strains.
Conclusions: This is the first report showing the role of active efflux in the parabens resistance in E. gergoviae, a mechanism that may explain its frequent isolation in parabens-containing cosmetics compared with other enterobacterial species. Paraben efflux seems to be regulated by a mar-independent process in E. gergoviae.
Keywords: preservatives , resistance , cosmetics , mar , potassium efflux , RAPD