In response to iron starvation, many bacteria produce siderophores which mediate high-affinity iron transport enabling iron to be scavenged from their surroundings. [1][2][3] In addition to their native siderophores, some bacteria are endowed with the uptake systems for heterologous siderophores produced by other bacterial and fungal species. In gram-negative bacteria, these siderophores loaded with ferric ion are transported via an energy dependent system across the membrane into the cytoplasm. The components of such systems include a receptor protein located in the outer membrane, a periplasmic binding protein and an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) type transporter located in the inner membrane.
2,4)The energy required for transport via the outer membrane receptor is provided by interaction of the receptor with the TonB-ExbB-ExbD complex located in the inner membrane, which couples the proton motive force created by the inner membrane for energy transduction. In general, siderophores display higher receptor specificity than proteins constituting the ABC transport systems. 4) Furthermore, expression of genes responsible for siderophore biosynthesis and uptake of its ferric complex are controlled by concentration of iron in the environment through a global iron-binding repressor called ferric utilization regulation (Fur) protein, with increased expression occurring under iron-limiting conditions.
2,5)Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a gram-negative halophilic bacterium that is found in estuarine waters worldwide and is recognized as a leading cause of food-borne gastroenteritis.
6)V. parahaemolyticus secretes the siderophore vibrioferrin in response to iron starvation.7) The pvsABCDE genes are involved in production 8) and secretion 9) of vibrioferrin, and uptake of its ferric complex occurs via the outer membrane receptor PvuA 10) and the ABC transporter PvuBCDE. have been annotated in the genomic sequences of V. parahaemolyticus RIMD2210633, 15) but none of these genes have been experimentally characterized to date. We report here that the V. parahaemolyticus fhuACDB orthologs are responsible for ferrichrome utilization and that the fhuCDB genes are also needed for transport of ferric aerobactin across the inner membrane.
MATERIALS AND METHODSStrains, Plasmids, and Media Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study are listed in Table 1. Unless otherwise noted, bacterial cells were routinely grown with shaking at 37°C in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth (pH 7.5, 1% tryptone peptone, 0.5% yeast extract) or grown on LB agar plates (1.5% agar) containing 3% (V. parahaemolyticus) and 0.5% (E. coli) NaCl. (LB) media with and without addition of the iron chelator ethylenediamine-di(o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) (EDDA) (Sigma) at 25 mM were used for growth under ironlimiting (ϪFe) and iron-replete (ϩFe) conditions, respectively. The media for E. coli were supplemented with ampicillin (50 mg/ml) or chloramphenicol (10 mg/ml), when required.Growth Assay V. parahaemolyticus TNB6 which carries a deletion in pvsA of strain AQ3354, result...