ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020
Adaptive iron utilization compensates for the lack of an inducible uptake system in Naegleria fowleri and represents a potential target for therapeutic intervention.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Eating the brain - A multidisciplinary study provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying the cytopathogenicity of Naegleria fowleri.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- A socioenvironmental approach to the nosogenic potential of freshwaters with presence of thermotolerant free-living amoebae in Costa Rica.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Chelation of Mitochondrial Iron as an Antiparasitic Strategy.ACS infectious diseases · 2024Article
- The 4-Aminomethylphenoxy-Benzoxaborole AN3057 as a Potential Treatment Option for Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2023Article
- The impact of iron and heme availability on the healthy human gut microbiome in vivo and in vitro.Cell chemical biology · 2023Article
- Repurposing of MitoTam: Novel Anti-Cancer Drug Candidate Exhibits Potent Activity against Major Protozoan and Fungal Pathogens.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2022Article
- Differential Growth Rates andMicrobiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Article
- Copper Metabolism inFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Novel aspects of iron homeostasis in pathogenic bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- Copper detoxification machinery of the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri involves copper-translocating ATPase and the antioxidant system.International journal for parasitology. Drugs and drug resistance · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Naegleria fowleri is a single-cell organism living in warm freshwater that can become a deadly human pathogen known as a brain-eating amoeba. The condition caused by N. fowleri, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, is usually a fatal infection of the brain with rapid and severe onset. Iron is a common element on earth and a crucial cofactor for all living organisms. However, its bioavailable form can be scarce in certain niches, where it becomes a factor that limits growth. To obtain iron, many pathogens use different machineries to exploit an iron-withholding strategy that has evolved in mammals and is important to host-parasite interactions. The present study demonstrates the importance of iron in the biology of N. fowleri and explores the plausibility of exploiting iron as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. We used different biochemical and analytical methods to explore the effect of decreased iron availability on the cellular processes of the amoeba. We show that, under iron starvation, nonessential, iron-dependent, mostly cytosolic pathways in N. fowleri are downregulated, while the metal is utilized in the mitochondria to maintain vital respiratory processes. Surprisingly, N. fowleri fails to respond to acute shortages of iron by inducing the reductive iron uptake system that seems to be the main iron-obtaining strategy of the parasite. Our findings suggest that iron restriction may be used to slow the progression of infection, which may make the difference between life and death for patients.
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