Figure 8.

Rifampicin translocation through the conduit of OprM in the MexAB-OprM pump. (A) Cross section of the equilibrated fully assembled pump, showing the averaged volume of the conduit along the OprM and MexA complex. (B) Potential of mean force for the translocation of rifampicin through the channel formed by the MexA and OprM domains. The total cumulative energy suggests the process is diffusive as values range within thermal fluctuations (~4 kJ mol⁻¹). (C) Comparison of the mean square displacement (MSD) for the water molecules running inside the OprM-MexA channel (black circles) and water molecules outside the boundaries of the pump (red stars), suggesting that water diffusion inside the pump is not affected.