Simultaneous binding mechanism of multiple substrates for multidrug resistance transporter P-glycoprotein

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a member of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, is a multidrug resistance pump. Its promiscuous nature is the main cause of multidrug resistance in cancer cells. P-gp can bind multiple drug molecules simultaneously; however, the binding mechanism is still not clear. Furthermore, the upper limit of the number of substrates that can be accommodated by the binding pocket is not fully understood. In this work, we explore the dynamic process of P-gp binding to multiple substrates by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Our results show that P-gp possesses the ability for simultaneous binding, and that the number of substrates has an upper limit. The accommodating ability of P-gp relates to the size of the binding drugs, and conforms to induced fit theory. In the binding process, the residues 339PHE, 982MET and 986GLN are essential. The pocket of P-gp presents strong flexibility and adaptability features according to the mutation results in this work. Drug molecules tend to gather in the pocket during binding, and interactions between these molecules are beneficial to simultaneous binding. These findings provide new insights into the mechanism of the promiscuous nature of P-gp, and may give us a guideline for inhibiting the process of multidrug resistance.