Acinetobacter baumannii can use multiple siderophores for iron acquisition, but only acinetobactin is required for virulence.

ABSTRACT: Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging pathogen that poses a global health threat due to a lack of therapeutic options for treating drug-resistant strains. In addition to acquiring resistance to last-resort antibiotics, the success of A. baumannii is partially due to its ability to effectively compete with the host for essential metals. Iron is fundamental in shaping host-pathogen interactions, where the host restricts availability of this nutrient in an effort to curtail bacterial proliferation. To circumvent restriction, pathogens possess numerous mechanisms to obtain iron, including through the use of iron-scavenging siderophores. A. baumannii elaborates up to ten distinct siderophores, encoded from three different loci: acinetobactin and pre-acinetobactin (collectively, acinetobactin),

SUBMITTER: Sheldon JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7595644 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature