The iron-regulated iupABC operon is required for saprophytic growth of the intracellular pathogen Rhodococcus equi at low iron concentrations.

ABSTRACT: Rhodococcus equi is a facultative intracellular pathogen which proliferates rapidly in both manure-enriched soil and alveolar macrophages. Although both environments are characterized by extremely low concentrations of free iron, very little is known regarding the strategies employed by R. equi to thrive under these conditions. This paper reports the characterization of an R. equi transposome mutant that fails to grow at low iron concentrations. The transposome was shown to be inserted into iupA, the first gene of the iupABC operon encoding an ABC transport system highly similar to siderophore uptake systems. Disruption of the iupA gene also resulted in a failure of R. equi to utilize heme and hemoglobin as a source of iron. Introduction of the iupABC operon in trans restored the wild-type

SUBMITTER: Miranda-Casoluengo R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1112021 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature