Ferric Citrate Uptake Is a Virulence Factor in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: More than half of women will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI), with uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) causing ~80% of uncomplicated cases. Iron acquisition systems are essential for uropathogenesis, and UPEC strains encode highly diverse iron acquisition systems, underlining their importance. However, a recent UPEC clinical isolate, HM7, lacks this diversity and instead encodes the synthesis pathway for a sole siderophore, enterobactin. To determine if HM7 possesses unidentified iron acquisition systems, we performed RNA sequencing under iron-limiting conditions and demonstrated that the ferric citrate uptake system (fecABCDE and fecIR) was highly upregulated. Importantly, there are high levels of citrate within urine, some of which is bound to iron, and the

SUBMITTER: Frick-Cheng AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9239202 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature