{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:59:58Z","timestamp":1760151598338,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,12]],"date-time":"2022-04-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649721600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MCIN\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["PID2020-112865RB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2020-112865RB-I00"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004587","name":"Instituto de Salud Carlos III","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PI17\/00159","FI18\/00036","CB21\/13\/0084","CP20\/00154","PI21\/01363"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PI17\/00159","FI18\/00036","CB21\/13\/0084","CP20\/00154","PI21\/01363"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004587","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rifampicin is a critical first-line antibiotic for treating mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis, one of the most serious infectious diseases worldwide. Rifampicin resistance in mycobacteria is mainly caused by mutations in the rpoB gene; however, some rifampicin-resistant strains showed no rpoB mutations. Therefore, alternative mechanisms must explain this resistance in mycobacteria. In this work, a library of 11,000 Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 insertion mutants was explored to search and characterize new rifampicin-resistance determinants. A transposon insertion in the MSMEG_1945 gene modified the growth rate, pH homeostasis and membrane potential in M. smegmatis, producing rifampicin resistance and collateral susceptibility to other antitubercular drugs such as isoniazid, ethionamide and aminoglycosides. Our data suggest that the M. smegmatis MSMEG_1945 protein is an ion channel, dubbed MchK, essential for maintaining the cellular ionic balance and membrane potential, modulating susceptibility to antimycobacterial agents. The functions of this new gene point once again to potassium homeostasis impairment as a proxy to resistance to rifampicin. This study increases the known repertoire of mycobacterial ion channels involved in drug susceptibility\/resistance to antimycobacterial drugs and suggests novel intervention opportunities, highlighting ion channels as druggable pathways.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics11040509","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,12]],"date-time":"2022-04-12T21:15:35Z","timestamp":1649798135000},"page":"509","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Inactivation of a New Potassium Channel Increases Rifampicin Resistance and Induces Collateral Sensitivity to Hydrophilic Antibiotics in Mycobacterium smegmatis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Thi Thuy","family":"Do","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Backweston Campus, W23 X3PH Celbridge, Ireland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jer\u00f3nimo","family":"Rodr\u00edguez-Beltran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, Instituto Ram\u00f3n y Cajal de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria (IRYCIS), 28034 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5594-387X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esmeralda","family":"Cebri\u00e1n-Sastre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Nacional de Biotecnolog\u00eda-CSIC, Darwin 3, Campus de la Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4119-8127","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandro","family":"Rodr\u00edguez-Rojas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine\u2014Vetmeduni Vienna, Veterin\u00e4rplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alfredo","family":"Casta\u00f1eda-Garc\u00eda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Nacional de Biotecnolog\u00eda-CSIC, Darwin 3, Campus de la Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jes\u00fas","family":"Bl\u00e1zquez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Nacional de Biotecnolog\u00eda-CSIC, Darwin 3, Campus de la Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2020, December 10). 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