This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mey, A. R. Articles by Payne, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mey, A. R. Articles by Payne, S. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, July 2002, p. 3419-3426, Vol. 70, No. 7
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.7.3419-3426.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of the Vibrio cholerae Enterobactin Receptors VctA and IrgA: IrgA Is Not Required for Virulence

Alexandra R. Mey,¹ Elizabeth E. Wyckoff,^2* Amanda G. Oglesby,² Eva Rab,^2, Ronald K. Taylor,³ and Shelley M. Payne^1,2

Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology,¹ Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1095,² Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755³

Received 24 January 2002/ Returned for modification 18 March 2002/ Accepted 27 March 2002

The gram-negative enteric pathogen Vibrio cholerae requires iron for growth. V. cholerae has multiple iron acquisition systems, including utilization of heme and hemoglobin, synthesis and transport of the catechol siderophore vibriobactin, and transport of several siderophores that it does not itself make. One siderophore that V. cholerae transports, but does not make, is enterobactin. Enterobactin transport requires TonB and is independent of the vibriobactin receptor ViuA. In this study, two candidate enterobactin receptor genes, irgA (VC0475) and vctA (VCA0232), were identified by analysis of the V. cholerae genomic sequence. A single mutation in either of these genes did not significantly impair enterobactin utilization, but a strain defective in both genes did not use enterobactin. When either irgA or vctA was supplied on a plasmid, the ability of the irgA vctA double mutant to use enterobactin was restored. This indicates that both VctA and IrgA transport enterobactin. We also identify the genes vctPDGC, which are linked to vctA and encode a periplasmic binding protein-dependent ABC transport system that functions in the utilization of both enterobactin and vibriobactin (VCA0227-0230). An irgA::TnphoA mutant strain, MBG40, was shown in a previous study to be highly attenuated and to have a strong colonization defect in an infant mouse model of V. cholerae infection (M. B. Goldberg, V. J. DiRita, and S. B. Calderwood, Infect. Immun. 58:55-60, 1990). In this work, a new irgA mutation was constructed, and this mutant strain was not significantly impaired in its ability to compete with the parental strain in infant mice and was not attenuated for virulence in an assay of 50% lethal dose. These data indicate that the virulence defect in MBG40 is not due to the loss of irgA function and that irgA is unlikely to be an important virulence factor.

Editor: J. T. Barbieri

Present address: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75235.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mey, A. R., Wyckoff, E. E., Hoover, L. A., Fisher, C. R., Payne, S. M. (2008). Vibrio cholerae VciB Promotes Iron Uptake via Ferrous Iron Transporters. J. Bacteriol. 190: 5953-5962 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kirillina, O., Bobrov, A. G., Fetherston, J. D., Perry, R. D. (2006). Hierarchy of Iron Uptake Systems: Yfu and Yiu Are Functional in Yersinia pestis. Infect. Immun. 74: 6171-6178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wyckoff, E. E., Mey, A. R., Leimbach, A., Fisher, C. F., Payne, S. M. (2006). Characterization of Ferric and Ferrous Iron Transport Systems in Vibrio cholerae.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 6515-6523 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Anderson, M. T., Armstrong, S. K. (2006). The Bordetella bfe system: growth and transcriptional response to siderophores, catechols, and neuroendocrine catecholamines.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 5731-5740 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Leveille, S., Caza, M., Johnson, J. R., Clabots, C., Sabri, M., Dozois, C. M. (2006). Iha from an Escherichia coli Urinary Tract Infection Outbreak Clonal Group A Strain Is Expressed In Vivo in the Mouse Urinary Tract and Functions as a Catecholate Siderophore Receptor.. Infect. Immun. 74: 3427-3436 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Speziali, C. D., Dale, S. E., Henderson, J. A., Vines, E. D., Heinrichs, D. E. (2006). Requirement of Staphylococcus aureus ATP-Binding Cassette-ATPase FhuC for Iron-Restricted Growth and Evidence that It Functions with More than One Iron Transporter. J. Bacteriol. 188: 2048-2055 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Mey, A. R., Wyckoff, E. E., Kanukurthy, V., Fisher, C. R., Payne, S. M. (2005). Iron and Fur Regulation in Vibrio cholerae and the Role of Fur in Virulence. Infect. Immun. 73: 8167-8178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Anderson, M. T., Armstrong, S. K. (2004). The BfeR Regulator Mediates Enterobactin-Inducible Expression of Bordetella Enterobactin Utilization Genes. J. Bacteriol. 186: 7302-7311 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wyckoff, E. E., Schmitt, M., Wilks, A., Payne, S. M. (2004). HutZ Is Required for Efficient Heme Utilization in Vibrio cholerae. J. Bacteriol. 186: 4142-4151 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Burall, L. S., Harro, J. M., Li, X., Lockatell, C.V., Himpsl, S. D., Hebel, J. R., Johnson, D. E., Mobley, H. L. T. (2004). Proteus mirabilis Genes That Contribute to Pathogenesis of Urinary Tract Infection: Identification of 25 Signature-Tagged Mutants Attenuated at Least 100-Fold. Infect. Immun. 72: 2922-2938 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Mey, A. R., Payne, S. M. (2003). Analysis of Residues Determining Specificity of Vibrio cholerae TonB1 for Its Receptors. J. Bacteriol. 185: 1195-1207 [Abstract] [Full Text]