Iron is an essential nutrient for virtually all organisms. The IRT1 (iron-regulated transporter) gene of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, encoding a probable Fe(II) transporter, was cloned by functional expression in a yeast strain defective for iron uptake. Yeast expressing IRT1 possess a novel Fe(II) uptake activity that is strongly inhibited by Cd. IRT1 is predicted to be an integral membrane...

Divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT1) is a divalent cation transporter that plays a key role in iron metabolism by mediating ferrous iron uptake across the small intestine. We have previously identified several small molecule inhibitors of iron uptake (4). Using a cell line that stably overexpresses DMT1, we screened the ability of these inhibitors to specifically block this transporter's activit...

The hemorrhagic septicemic disease vibriosis caused by Vibrio anguillarum shows noticeable similarities to invasive septicemia in humans, and in this case, the V. anguillarum-host system has the potential to serve as a model for understanding native eukaryotic host-pathogen interactions. Iron acquisition, as a fierce battle occurring between pathogenic V. anguillarum and the fish host, is a piv...

When Azotobacter vinelandii was grown in the presence of low levels of iron, the addition of 20 or 40 muM ZnSO(4) caused earlier production of the catechol siderophores and a dramatic increase in the amount of azotobactin. The level of cellular iron was not significantly lowered in Zn -grown cells, which suggested that Zn was not causing more severe, or earlier, iron limitation. Also, Zn did no...

Regulation of iron uptake is critical for plant survival. Although the activities responsible for reduction and transport of iron at the plant root surface have been described, the genes controlling these activities are largely unknown. We report the identification of the essential gene Fe-deficiency Induced Transcription Factor 1 (FIT1), which encodes a putative transcription factor that regul...

It has been reported that over-expression of human heat shock protein 27 (hsp27) in murine cells decreased the intracellular iron level [Arrigo, A. P., Virot, S., Chaufour, S., Firdaus, W., Kretz-Remy, C., & Diaz-Latoud, C. (2005). Hsp27 consolidates intracellular redox homeostasis by upholding glutathione in its reduced form and by decreasing iron intracellular levels. Antioxidants & Redox Sig...

Maintaining the appropriate balance of iron between deficiency and toxicity requires fine-tuned control of systems for iron uptake and storage. Both among fungal species and within a single species, different systems for acquisition, storage, and regulation of iron are present. Here we discuss the most recent findings on the mechanisms involved in maintaining iron homeostasis with a focus on si...

Iron uptake by cells may increase the intracellular pool of prooxidant iron prior to storage of iron within ferritin. Because hyperoxia is toxic to alveolar macrophages (AM) via mechanisms involving oxidant stress, we hypothesized that iron uptake by AM might promote hyperoxia-induced injury. To assess this hypothesis, we cultured AM recovered from healthy volunteers under conditions of normoxi...

Iron is a vital nutrient for the vast majority of organisms. Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria and archaea established different strategies to utilize iron from various sources. This article concentrates on the cytoplasmic membrane-associated uptake systems involved in the acquisition of iron. Genetic, biochemical and structural data as well as computational analyses were taken int...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Campylobacter rectus is considered as one of the bacterial species of etiological importance in periodontitis. Iron-containing proteins such as transferrin are found in periodontal sites and may serve as a source of iron for periodontopathogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the capacity of C. rectus to assimilate transferrin-bound iron to support its growth....