Gene Network Analysis of Efflux Pump Proteins in Escherichia coli

Multidrug-resistant bacteria are now becoming a great global concern and Escherichia coli is also one of them that has developed multidrug resistance. Although most of the strains do not cause disease some strains cause disease i.e they are pathogenic to humans and other animals also. One of the main reasons for the development of drug resistance in bacteria is their efflux pumps. So it is necessary to formulate new drugs with the help of which we can manage these antibiotic-resistant strains. In my study, a network of directly interacting proteins with the components of the MdtABC-TolC efflux system of Escherichia coli was generated. Functional enrichment analysis was performed for the concerned genes. The proteins interaction network was grouped in clustered. Topological parameters were also analysed and found that TolC seems to be the most well connected and more networking and relationship exist between MdtA-MdtB and MdtC-TolC. Among all the proteins in the merged network, MdtC has the maximum value for betweenness centrality and a high number of node degrees. So it can be concluded that MdtC from cluster2 is the most promising drug target.