Heme uptake in bacterial pathogens

作者：Contreras Heidi; Chim Nicholas; Credali Alfredo; Goulding Celia W^*

来源：Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2014, 19: 34-41.

DOI：10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.12.014

Iron is an essential nutrient for the survival of organisms. Bacterial pathogens possess specialized pathways to acquire heme from their human hosts. In this review, we present recent structural and biochemical data that provide mechanistic insights into several bacterial heme uptake pathways, encompassing the sequestration of heme from human hemoproteins to secreted or membrane-associated bacterial proteins, the transport of heme across bacterial membranes, and the degradation of heme within the bacterial cytosol to liberate iron. The pathways for heme transport into the bacterial cytosol are divergent, harboring non-homologous protein sequences, novel structures, varying numbers of proteins, and different mechanisms. Congruously, the breakdown of heme within the bacterial cytosol by sequence-divergent proteins releases iron and distinct degradation products.

• 出版日期2014-4