AcrAB and related multidrug efflux pumps of Escherichia coli

Abstract

The AcrAB system of Escherichia coli is a multidrug efflux system composed of an RND-type transporter AcrB and a periplasmic accessory protein AcrA, and pumps out a wide variety of lipophilic and amphiphilic inhibitors directly into the medium, presumably through the TolC outer membrane channel. AcrA, a highly elongated protein, is thought to bring the outer and inner membranes closer. It forms a trimer that interacts with a monomeric AcrB, which was shown by in vitro reconstitution to be a proton antiporter. Details of interaction between the