Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
3422577 | Trends in Microbiology | 2008 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
The effective acquisition of iron is a pre-requisite for survival of all organisms, especially parasites that have a high iron requirement. In mammals, iron homeostasis is meticulously regulated; extracellular free iron is essentially unavailable and host iron availability has a crucial role in the host–pathogen relationship. Therefore, pathogens use specialized and effective mechanisms to acquire iron. In this review, we summarize the iron-uptake systems in eukaryotic unicellular organisms with particular focus on the pathogenic species: Candida albicans, Tritrichomonas foetus, Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania spp. We describe the diversity of their iron-uptake mechanisms and highlight the importance of the process for virulence.
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Authors
Robert Sutak, Emmanuel Lesuisse, Jan Tachezy, Des R. Richardson,