Current Microbiology

, Volume 50, Issue 5, pp 246–250 | Cite as

A Ferric Dicitrate Uptake System Is Required for the Full Virulence of Bacillus cereus

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Abstract

Bacillus cereus is an opportunistic human pathogen of increasing prevalence. Analysis of the Bacillus cereus genome sequence identified a potential ferric dicitrate uptake system. The three-gene operon was confirmed to be negatively regulated by the ferric uptake repressor (Fur). The Fec operon was genetically silenced using the integration suicide vector pMUTIN4. The mutant strain displayed no growth defect under iron-limited conditions but was unable to grow on ferric citrate as a sole iron source. The virulence of the mutant strain was attenuated in a lepidopteran infection model, highlighting the importance of iron uptake systems to the virulence of B. cereus and the potential of these systems to act as targets for novel antimicrobial agents.

Keywords

Bacillus Cereus Uptake System Ferric Citrate Iron Source Competition Index 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of BiochemistryUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK

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