ATP binding cassette transporters in yeast: From mating to multidrug resistance

Abstract

Publisher Summary ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters comprise a novel superfamily of membrane transport proteins that are found operating from bacteria to humans. More than 150 ABC sequences are deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databank and their number keeps growing rapidly. The discovery that the Ste6 a-factor pheromone transporter represents a close homolog of the mammalian multidrug resistance P-glycoproteins motivated many laboratories to search for other yeast genes that are functionally or structurally related to STE6 . The joint efforts of many laboratories to systematically sequence the yeast genome has led to the identification of additional novel yeast ABC proteins. Therefore, the functional diversity of bacterial ABC transporters implies that even more ABC proteins can be discovered in both yeast and in mammalian systems.