Xenobiotic efflux in bacteria and fungi: a genomics update.

“…not enough to kill the streptococci but enough to educate them to resist penicillin” (Alexander Fleming, Nobel Prize lecture, Dec. 11, 1945). These prophetic words underscore the arms race in which we find ourselves today. Large populations and mutable genomes give microbes a profound capacity to respond to changing environmental conditions. The misuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture has contributed to continuing microbial drug resistance. Thus, 65 years later, in 2010, we continue to battle microorganisms and strive to design novel and useful antimicrobial agents (1).