Bacterial multidrug transport through the lens of the major facilitator superfamily

Multidrug transporters are membrane proteins that expel a wide spectrum of cytotoxic compounds from the cell. Through this function, they render cells resistant to multiple drugs. These transporters are found in many different families of transport proteins, of which the largest is the major facilitator superfamily. Multidrug transporters from this family are highly represented in bacteria and studies of them have provided important insight into the mechanism underlying multidrug transport. This review summarizes the work carried out on these interesting proteins and underscores the differences and similarities to other transport systems. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.