Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its multiple strategies to access iron

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous bacterium found in many natural and man‐made environments. It is also a pathogen for plants, animals, and humans. As for almost all living organisms, iron is an essential nutrient for the growth of P. aeruginosa. The bacterium has evolved complex systems to access iron and maintain its homeostasis to survive in diverse natural and dynamic host environments. To access ferric iron, P. aeruginosa is able to produce two siderophores (pyoverdine and pyochelin), as well as use a variety of siderophores produced by other bacteria (mycobactins, enterobactin, ferrioxamine, ferrichrome, vibriobactin, aerobactin, rhizobactin and schizokinen). Furthermore, it can also use citrate, in addition to catecholamine neuromediators and plant‐derived mono catechols, as siderophores. The P. aeruginosa genome also encodes three heme‐uptake pathways (heme being an iron source) and one ferrous iron acquisition pathway. This review aims to summarize current knowledge concerning the molecular mechanisms involved in all the iron and heme acquisition strategies used by P. aeruginosa.

Common fluorescent Pseudomonas in the phyllosphere can influence aphid behavior in diverse ways

“…Genes to produce and bind the siderophore achromobactin (Berti and Thomas 2009; Owen and Ackerley 2011) were also fairly common. One isolate separately had biosynthesis and receptor genes for yersiniabactin (#228) (Bultreys et al 2006; Jones et al 2007) while several isolates had receptor genes for aerobactin (#185, #195, #217, #222, and #230) (de Sousa et al 2022; Schalk and Perraud 2023). Achromobactin, yersiniabactin, and aerobactin are not reported to be fluorescent.…”

Siderophore specificities of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa TonB‐dependent transporters ChtA and ActA

“…Iron is an essential nutrient for the growth and virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a ubiquitous bacterium and opportunistic pathogen often responsible for lung infections. P. aeruginosa is able to express and use at least 15 different iron acquisition pathways, each involving a specific set of proteins [1]. Among these import pathways, three involve different haem import strategies [2,3], one uses ferrous iron [4], and a large range use siderophores [1].…”

“…P. aeruginosa is able to express and use at least 15 different iron acquisition pathways, each involving a specific set of proteins [1]. Among these import pathways, three involve different haem import strategies [2,3], one uses ferrous iron [4], and a large range use siderophores [1]. Siderophores are small molecules with a molecular mass between 200 and 2000 Da characterized by a very strong affinity for ferric iron [5].…”

“…Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces two siderophores, pyoverdine (PVD) and pyochelin (PCH) [12], and can use many siderophores produced by other microorganisms (xenosiderophores) [1]. The ability of P. aeruginosa to use siderophores produced by other bacteria is due to the presence of numerous genes encoding TBDTs in its genome, each recognizing and importing a different iron‐loaded xenosiderophore or a family of xenosiderophores of similar structure.…”

Identification of a system for hydroxamate xenosiderophore-mediated iron transport in Burkholderia cenocepacia

“…Utilization of xenosiderophores by Gram-negative bacteria requires additional sets of transport proteins. For example, P. aeruginosa strain PAO1, which produces the siderophores pyoverdine and pyochelin, possesses approximately 35 TBDTs [20]. Two of these are the ferric-pyoverdine and ferric-pyochelin TBDTs, FpvA and FptA, respectively, but many of the other TBDTs are involved in the uptake of iron-xenosiderophore complexes [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”