Multidrug Resistance Phenotype Conferred by Overexpressing bfr2⁺/pad1⁺/sks1⁺ or pap1⁺ Genes and Mediated by bfr1⁺ Gene Product, a Structural and Functional Homologue of P-Glycoprotein in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Abstract

  We investigated the mechanism of multidrug resistance conferred by overexpression of bfr2⁺/pad1⁺/sks1⁺ or pap1⁺ genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Overexpression of bfr2⁺ did not confer multidrug resistance on a pap1-disrupted strain. In a mutant with bfr1⁺ (a putative membrane transporter which belongs to the ATP-binding cassette superfamily) disrupted, overexpression of either bfr2⁺ or pap1⁺ did not confer multidrug resistance. These findings suggest that bfr1⁺ acts as the most downstream effector of the multidrug resistance conferred by bfr2⁺ and pap1⁺ genes.