Iron-Source Preference of Staphylococcus aureus Infections

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2004-09, Vol.305 (5690), p.1626-1628
• Main Authors: Skaar, Eric P., Humayun, Munir, Bae, Taeok, DeBord, Kristin L., Schneewind, Olaf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abscess - microbiology; Animals; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters - genetics; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters - metabolism; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Transport; Caenorhabditis elegans - microbiology; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Cell walls; Computational Biology; Cytoplasm; Cytoplasm - metabolism; Fractions; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Bacterial; Genome, Bacterial; Genomics; Heme - metabolism; Hemin - metabolism; Humans; Infections; Iron; Iron (Nutrient); Iron - metabolism; Iron in the body; Iron Isotopes; Isotopes; Isotopic labeling; Kidney - microbiology; Liver - microbiology; Mass Spectrometry; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microbiology; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Operon; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Pathogens; Physiological aspects; Preferences; Scientific imaging; Siderophores; Spectrum analysis; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Staphylococcus aureus - growth & development; Staphylococcus aureus - metabolism; Staphylococcus aureus - pathogenicity; Transferrin - metabolism; Transferrins
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1099930

Although bacteria use different iron compounds in vitro, the possibility that microbes distinguish between these iron sources during infection has hitherto not been examined. We applied stable isotope labeling to detect source-specific iron by mass spectrometry and show that Staphylococcus aureus preferentially imports heme iron over transferrin iron. By combining this approach with computational genome analysis, we identified hts (heme transport system), a gene cluster that promotes preferred heme iron import by S. aureus. Heme iron scavenging by means of hts is required for staphylococcal pathogenesis in animal hosts, indicating that heme iron is the preferred iron source during the initiation of infection.