Multidrug and Toxin Extrusion Transporters Functioning As Eflux Pumps

Studies of membrane transporters/channels and their signal proteins have a great impact on our understanding of human diseases and drug design. Ion channels and transporters are, at present, the third largest target class in drug discovery and about 30% of current clinically marked drugs are targeted against these proteins. The goal of the present research is to expand the knowledge in the field of membrane transporters. I am a part of the Dr. Min Lu’s group that studies molecular structures of Multidrug and Toxin Extrusion (MATE) transporters, which are integral membrane proteins that move structurally unrelated lipophilic cations across the cell membrane by utilizing a preexisting sodium or proton gradient. Bacterial MATE transporters function as multidrug efflux pumps by expelling a cohort of antimicrobial agents from the cytoplasm, whereas their human counterparts mediate the excretion of various cytotoxic metabolites as well as therapeutic drugs. The focus of my research is to understand mechanism underlying multidrug resistance mediated by the MATE transporter DinF from Bacillus halodurans, and if the drug removal from the cells happens due to utilizing a preexisting sodium or proton gradient.