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.

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.