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Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.

Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.
Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.
Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.
Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.
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396732
Taylor, Eric S.
Illustration explaining how efflux pumps operate.
Illustration
10/29/2013
graphics/Oceanus50n2/05.jpg
Image Of the Day caption:
Infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria cause 23,000 deaths a year in the U.S. alone. One defense mechanism used by bacteria are called efflux pumps. Positioned in bacterial membranes, these pumps continuously expel antibiotics out of the bacterial cellbefore they can kill the bacteria. WHOI researchers Tracy Mincer and Kristen Whalen are exploring microbes in the ocean that may produce undiscovered chemical compounds that could be developed into efflux pumps inhibitors and/or new antiobiotics. Another project is investigating marine bacterial compounds for therapies to treat cystic fibrosis.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, vol. 50, no. 2, page 5:
The Target: The rapid spread of resistance is partially due to a rise in a bacterial defense mechanism called efflux pumps. Positioned in bacterial membranes, these pumps continuously expel antibiotics out of the bacterial cell--before they kill the bacteria.
Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, WHOI Creative
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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