Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39880813›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

The mycobacterial ABC transporter IrtAB employs a membrane-facing crevice for siderophore-mediated iron uptake.

Imre Gonda, Simona Sorrentino, Laura Galazzo, Nicolas P Lichti, Fabian M Arnold, Ahmad R Mehdipour, Enrica Bordignon, Markus A Seeger

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Expert review of respiratory medicine · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Imre GondaInstitute of Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9951-181X
Simona SorrentinoCenter for Microscopy and Image Analysis, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Laura GalazzoDepartment of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8440-1757
Nicolas P LichtiInstitute of Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-3665-9408
Fabian M ArnoldInstitute of Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Ahmad R MehdipourUGent Center for Molecular Modelling, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Enrica BordignonDepartment of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. enrica.bordignon@unige.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2450-5161
Markus A SeegerInstitute of Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. m.seeger@imm.uzh.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1761-8571

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mycobacterial ABC transporter IrtAB features an ABC exporter fold, yet it imports iron-charged siderophores called mycobactins. Here, we present extensive cryo-EM analyses and DEER measurements, revealing that IrtAB alternates between an inward-facing and an outward-occluded conformation, but does not sample an outward-facing conformation. When IrtAB is locked in its outward-occluded conformation in nanodiscs, mycobactin is bound in the middle of the lipid bilayer at a membrane-facing crevice opening at the heterodimeric interface. Mutations introduced at the crevice abrogate mycobactin import and in corresponding structures, the crevice is collapsed. A conserved triple histidine motif coordinating a zinc ion is present below the mycobactin binding site. Substitution of these histidine residues with alanine results in a decoupled transporter, which hydrolyzes ATP, but lost its capacity to import mycobactins. Our data suggest that IrtAB imports mycobactin via a credit-card mechanism in a transport cycle that is coupled to the presence of zinc.

Indexed as

ATP-Binding Cassette TransportersBacterial ProteinsIronMycobacterium smegmatisSiderophoresBinding SitesBiological TransportCryoelectron MicroscopyLipid BilayersModels, MolecularOxazolesProtein ConformationZincATP-Binding Cassette TransportersBacterial ProteinsIronLipid BilayersmycobactinsOxazolesSiderophoresZinc

Identifiers

PMID39880813
PMCPMC11779899

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.