ArticleMicrobiologyOpen2019
Bacteroides fragilis requires the ferrous-iron transporter FeoAB and the CobN-like proteins BtuS1 and BtuS2 for assimilation of iron released from heme.
Article in MicrobiologyOpen, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Porphyromonas gingivalis produces a functional HemH ferrochelatase important for its survival in a heme-limited environment.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Biochemical and functional characterization ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Commensal gut bacteria employ de-chelatase HmuS to harvest iron from heme.The EMBO journal · 2025Article
- Genomic alterations in Bacteroides fragilis favor adaptation in colorectal cancer microenvironment.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Exploring heme and iron acquisition strategies of Porphyromonas gingivalis-current facts and hypotheses.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- HmuY proteins of theFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Differential impacts of hemin and free iron on amoxicillin susceptibility inFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Hemophore-like proteins of the HmuY family in the oral and gut microbiome: unraveling the mystery of their evolution.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- A shift between mineral and nonmineral sources of iron and sulfur causes proteome-wide changes inMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Article
- The impact of iron and heme availability on the healthy human gut microbiome in vivo and in vitro.Cell chemical biology · 2023Article
- Proteomic analysis of metronidazole resistance in the human facultative pathogenFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- A general protocol for the expression and purification of the intact transmembrane transporter FeoB.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2022Article
- Analysis of SixInfection and immunity · 2022Article
- Modulation of Iron Import and Metronidazole Resistance inFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Cross-feeding between intestinal pathobionts promotes their overgrowth during undernutrition.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Article
- Comparison of Treatment Effects of Different Iron Chelators in Experimental Models of Sepsis.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- TheInfection and immunity · 2020Article
- Transition metals and host-microbe interactions in the inflamed intestine.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2019Review
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The intestinal commensal and opportunistic anaerobic pathogen Bacteroides fragilis has an essential requirement for both heme and free iron to support growth in extraintestinal infections. In the absence of free iron, B. fragilis can utilize heme as the sole source of iron. However, the mechanisms to remove iron from heme are not completely understood. In this study, we show that the inner membrane ferrous iron transporter ∆feoAB mutant strain is no longer able to grow with heme as the sole source of iron. Genetic complementation with the feoAB gene operon completely restored growth. Our data indicate that iron is removed from heme in the periplasmic space, and the released iron is transported by the FeoAB system. Interestingly, when B. fragilis utilizes iron from heme, it releases heme-derived porphyrins by a dechelatase activity which is upregulated under low iron conditions. This is supported by the findings showing that formation of heme-derived porphyrins in the ∆feoAB mutant and the parent strain increased 30-fold and fivefold (respectively) under low iron conditions compared to iron replete conditions. Moreover, the btuS1 btuS2 double-mutant strain (lacking the predicted periplasmic, membrane anchored CobN-like proteins) also showed growth defect with heme as the sole source of iron, suggesting that BtuS1 and BtuS2 are involved in heme-iron assimilation. Though the dechelatase mechanism remains uncharacterized, assays performed in bacterial crude extracts show that BtuS1 and BtuS2 affect the regulation of the dechelatase-specific activities in an iron-dependent manner. These findings suggest that the mechanism to extract iron from heme in Bacteroides requires a group of proteins, which spans the periplasmic space to make iron available for cellular functions.
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