Exploring amino acid and peptide transporters as therapeutic targets to attenuate virulence and antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus continues to pose a major threat to public health and is responsible for 20,000 deaths each year in the US The problem is exacerbated by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) which, according to the World Health Organisation's 2014 Antimicrobial Resistance Global Report on Surveillance is associated with a >60% increase in mortality compared to antibiotic susceptible S. aureus. Membrane transport systems can control both virulence and antibiotic resistance and represent novel targets for therapeutic agents. Here we discuss how efforts to overcome antimicrobial drug resistance could include novel agents targeting important metabolic processes dependent on membrane transporters, which have the potential to augment existing antibiotics.