Mutations in PA3574 (nalD) lead to increased MexAB-OprM expression and multidrug resistance in laboratory and clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Mutations in genes mexR and nalC have previously been shown to drive overexpression of the MexAB-OprM multidrug efflux system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A transposon insertion multidrug-resistant mutant of P. aeruginosa overproducing MexAB-OprM was disrupted in yet a third gene, PA3574, encoding a probable repressor of the TetR/AcrR family that we have dubbed NalD. Clinical strains overexpressing MexAB-OprM but lacking mutations in mexR or nalC were also shown to carry mutations in nalD. Moreover, the cloned nalD gene reduced the multidrug resistance and MexAB-OprM expression of the transposon mutant and clinical isolates, highlighting the significance of the nalD mutations vis-a-vis MexAB-OprM overexpression in these isolates.