Iron protein uptake, siderophore-mediated

Figure 2 Siderophore-mediated iron-uptake systems in E. coli. Siderophore-iron complexes bind to transporter proteins located in the outer membrane (also known as OM), a barrier that is characteristic of Gram-negative bacteria. The region between the outer and inner is known as the periplasmic space. Specific carrier proteins such as FhuD transport iron fi om the outer membrane to the inner or cytosolic membrane (also known as CM). The TonB/ExbB/ExbD complex spans the inner and outer membranes and interacts with FepA, as shown, as well as all of the outer membrane receptors. The linkage that the TonB/ExbB/ExbD complex provides between the inner or cytosolic membrane to the outer membrane is thought to allow transmission of sufficient energy from the cytosol to drive siderophore-iron uptake across the outer membrane...

The Fur (Ferric uptake regulation) protein is a negative regulator of the aerobactin-operon and of several other siderophore-mediated, high affinity iron transport systems in... 

Transferrin iron uptake via receptor-mediated endocytosis has clearly appeared fairly late in evolution, when we consider that the bilobal iron-binding protein is found only as far back as insects . As we have seen in the preceding chapters, iron-uptake mechanisms involving the synthesis of more or less specific siderophores have evolved together with strategies implying the solubilization of insoluble ferric iron by the combined effects of pH and reduction, and even the development of receptor proteins capable of taking up transferrin-, lactoferrin- or haem-bound iron from specific hosts. 

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