Ferric dicitrate transport system (Fec) of Shigella flexneri 2a YSH6000 is encoded on a novel pathogenicity island carrying multiple antibiotic resistance genes.

ABSTRACT: Iron uptake systems which are critical for bacterial survival and which may play important roles in bacterial virulence are often carried on mobile elements, such as plasmids and pathogenicity islands (PAIs). In the present study, we identified and characterized a ferric dicitrate uptake system (Fec) in Shigella flexneri serotype 2a that is encoded by a novel PAI termed the Shigella resistance locus (SRL) PAI. The fec genes are transcribed in S. flexneri, and complementation of a fec deletion in Escherichia coli demonstrated that they are functional. However, insertional inactivation of fecI, leading to a loss in fec gene expression, did not impair the growth of the parent strain of S. flexneri in iron-limited culture media, suggesting that S. flexneri carries additional iron uptake system

SUBMITTER: Luck SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC98729 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature