铁和细菌

在传染过程中铁元素起着非常重要的作用。宿主组织的内环境对其中病原菌的特性和生长的影响都与病原菌对铁的利用有关。传染过程得以发生的基本因素是病原菌侵袭力,即在宿主体内各种环境条件下病原菌成功繁殖的能力。病原性微生物必须摄取足够的铁方能在宿主体内生长繁殖,而宿主组织中可供细菌所利用的铁有时是有限的。此外,环境中铁的存在与否也是协调细菌毒力     

细菌铁离子利用系统与宿主抗感染免疫

铁离子对于绝大多数微生物及其宿主都是必需的营养物质,它是许多蛋白和酶的重要辅助因子。致病菌为了成功致病,进化出了多种机制来摄取宿主体内的铁离子,其中主要包括三价铁离子转运系统和亚铁血红素转运系统。而对于宿主而言,铁离子虽然在细胞呼吸和DNA复制等过程中扮演着重要的角色,但过多的铁离子也会产生细胞毒性。因此,宿主体内的铁离子浓度必须受到严格的调控。为限制病原菌感染,宿主先天性免疫系统进化出一系列限制自身铁离子进入微生物的机制,这一过程被称为宿主的"营养免疫"。从病原菌和宿主两个方面详细讨论病原菌是如何从宿主获取铁离子以及宿主如何防止细菌获取铁离子的分子机制,能为更好地提高宿主免疫力来阻止细菌感染和开发有效的非抗生素类药物提供理论依据。     

细菌毒力基因体内表达检测技术研究进展

病原菌入侵宿主是一个及其复杂的过程。为了深入了解病原菌的致病机理,人们需要鉴定那些在感染过程中特异表达的细菌毒力基因。为此,多种体内实验模型被建立起来分析细菌在宿主体内的基因表达,它们包括了体内表达技术、信号标签突变技术、差异荧光诱导、体外转座进行基因组分析和作图技术以及体内诱导抗原技术等。文章对目前运用的这些研究方法进展进行综述,并讨论了它们的优点与不足。     

铁离子在淋病奈瑟球菌感染宿主过程中的作用

本文探讨了铁离子在淋病奈瑟球菌(以下简称“淋球菌”)感染宿主过程中的作用,旨在为淋病防治提供思路。搜索知网、万方、维普、PubMed 4大数据库,查阅铁离子在淋球菌感染宿主过程中的调节作用及其与细菌耐药相关的文献。从淋球菌黏附、竞争铁离子、抵抗宿主免疫系统杀伤以及人群间传播等方面分析显示：淋球菌内铁含量减少可下调细菌对宿主体内抗菌物质的敏感性;菌内铁含量较低时可通过上调铁摄取基因表达,分泌转铁蛋白/乳铁蛋白结合蛋白、铁载体、MpeR等物质,从宿主糖蛋白内抢夺铁离子,促进淋球菌在宿主细胞内的存活和播散。铁离子在淋球菌基本生存需求、抵御杀伤、传播播散等方面都发挥了重要作用。调节菌体内、外铁离子的浓度可增强淋球菌感染的防治效果。     

病原菌逃避单核-巨噬细胞杀灭策略的研究进展

单核-巨噬细胞具有强大的吞噬功能,在机体固有免疫和适应性免疫中均发挥着重要作用,可有效保护宿主免受多种致病菌的感染。病原菌在与宿主单核-巨噬细胞的长期相互作用过程中,逐渐形成多种逃避杀灭的有效策略,得以在宿主体内存活并增殖。本文从病原菌抗巨噬细胞吞噬作用、抗巨噬细胞内吞噬溶酶体降解作用、诱导和抑制巨噬细胞凋亡或坏死4个方面,综述近年来国内、外关于病原菌逃避单核-巨噬细胞杀灭策略的研究进展。     

烟曲霉肺部感染的免疫逃逸作用机制研究进展

侵袭性曲霉感染是免疫低下患者死亡重要原因。烟曲霉作为曲霉感染中最为常见的一类是重症患者中常见的肺部真菌感染,具有侵袭性和难治性。其通过吸入宿主体内,通过分泌的蛋白水解酶等定植于肺部。为了对抗宿主体内的保护性免疫反应并持续性生长繁殖,烟曲霉已经开发出了许多复杂且有效的免疫逃逸策略,包括黏附/定植、适应内环境压力、改变营养摄取、逃避宿主补体监视和下调宿主抗真菌反应等多种机制。了解真菌病原体与宿主间复杂的免疫串扰将是研究真菌感染发生机制和治疗标靶的核心内容,为从抗宿主免疫层面探讨烟曲霉治疗方法提供新思路。该文对近年来有关烟曲霉肺部感染的免疫逃逸机制研究进展作一综述。     

体内诱导抗原技术筛选病原菌体内诱导抗原的研究进展

体内诱导基因是病原菌在宿主体内能够表达而体外培养时却不能表达的功能基因,其对病原体在宿主体内的生存和致病具有重要意义。体内诱导抗原技术(in vivo induced antigen technology, IVIAT)已广泛应用于筛选病原体体内诱导基因,相较于其他用于筛选体内诱导基因的技术,IVIAT具有无需动物模型、检测病原菌在不同感染阶段产生的抗原等独特优势。IVIAT鉴定出的体内诱导抗原对病原体在宿主中的毒力、代谢及存活具有重要意义。现就IVIAT的原理、IVIAT筛选出的人类疾病相关病原菌的体内诱导抗原及其功能研究等作一概述。     

DNA微阵列技术在细菌感染后宿主反应研究中的应用

感染性疾病是病原微生物和宿主紧密相互作用的结果。深入理解宿主对病原微生物感染发生反应的分子基础是预防感染性疾病发生和组织损伤的必要条件。本文通过介绍体内、体外2种感染模型中宿主对细胞内和细胞外致病菌感染后的基因表达谱变化,简述了DNA微阵列技术在病原菌一宿主相互作用中宿主反应研究中的应用。     

铁摄取调节蛋白Fur功能和作用模式的研究进展

铁是大多数生物必需的微量元素,在健康和疾病,尤其是宿主-病原菌互作过程中发挥着至关重要的作用.细菌胞内铁离子浓度的高低不仅是调节自身高亲和力铁运输系统表达的信号,更是病原菌产生毒素和其他必要毒力因子的关键调控因素.而另一方面,超负荷的铁也会导致致命的细胞毒性.因此,生物体内铁稳态的维持受到严格控制,其中以铁摄取调节蛋白(ferric uptake regulator,Fur)的作用最为显著,其调控网络涵盖了细菌生命活动的各个方面.本综述将基于Fur的生物学功能,围绕其家族分类、结构特点和差异、调控网络和调控机制等方面进行总结和分析,以期为Fur和铁稳态调节等研究提供参考.     

病原菌操控宿主固有免疫细胞以求生存的机制研究进展

在急性感染和传统感染模式中,宿主利用固有免疫机制应对一系列病原体的入侵。然而,一些病原菌可以成功逃避、抑制或颠覆免疫检测、信号转导或有效杀伤。该文就病原菌如何操纵宿主细胞的防御功能,调节胞内杀伤、信号转导,破坏固有免疫系统受体间分子信号的交联作用,并最终使微生物在宿主体内适应性生长、持续感染等方面作一综述。     

Siderophore-mediated iron acquisition in the staphylococci

Iron is frequently a growth-limiting nutrient due to its propensity to interact with oxygen to form insoluble precipitates and, therefore, biological systems have evolved specialized uptake mechanisms to obtain this essential nutrient. Many pathogenic bacteria are capable of obtaining stringently sequestered iron from animal hosts by one or both of the following mechanisms: extraction of heme from host erythrocyte and serum hemoproteins, or through the use of high affinity, iron-scavenging molecules termed siderophores. This review summarizes our current knowledge of siderophore-mediated iron acquisition systems in the genus Staphylococcus.     

Structural biology of heme binding in the Staphylococcus aureus Isd system

Iron is an absolute requirement for nearly all organisms, but most bacterial pathogens are faced with extreme iron-restriction within their host environments. To overcome iron limitation pathogens have evolved precise mechanisms to steal iron from host supplies. Staphylococcus aureus employs the iron-responsive surface determinant (Isd) system as its primary heme-iron uptake pathway. Hemoglobin or hemoglobin-haptoglobin complexes are bound by Near iron-Transport (NEAT) domains within cell surface anchored proteins IsdB or IsdH. Heme is stripped from the host proteins and transferred between NEAT domains through IsdA and IsdC to the membrane transporter IsdEF for internalization. Once internalized, heme can be degraded by IsdG or IsdI, thereby liberating iron for the organism. Most components of the Isd system have been structurally characterized to provide insight into the mechanisms of heme binding and transport. This review summarizes recent research on the Isd system with a focus on the structural biology of heme recognition.     

Iron uptake mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria

Abstract: Most of the iron in a mammalian body is complexed with various proteins. Moreover, in response to infection, iron availability is reduced in both extracellular and intracellular compartments. Bacteria need iron for growth and successful bacterial pathogens have therefore evolved to compete successfully for iron in the highly iron-stressed environment of the host's tissues and body fluids. Several strategies have been identified among pathogenic bacteria, including reduction of ferric to ferrous iron, occupation of intracellular niches, utilisation of host iron compounds, and production of siderophores. While direct evidence that high affinity mechanisms for iron acquisition function as bacterial virulence determinants has been provided in only a small number of cases, it is likely that many if not all such systems play a central role in the pathogenesis of infection.     

Iron gathering by zoopathogenic fungi

Iron is a metal required by most microorganisms and is prominently used in the transfer of electrons during metabolism. The gathering of iron is, then, an essential process and its fulfillment becomes a crucial pathogenetic event for zoopathogenic fungi. Iron is rather unavailable because it occurs on the earth's surface in its insoluble ferric form in oxides and hydroxides. In the infected host iron is bound to proteins such as transferrin and ferritin. Solubilization of ferric iron is the major problem confronting microorganisms. This process is achieved by two major mechanisms: ferric reduction and siderophore utilization. Ferric reductase is frequently accompanied by a copper oxidase transport system. There is one example of direct ferric iron transport apparently without prior reduction. Ferric reduction may also be accomplished by low molecular mass compounds. Some fungi have evolved a process of iron acquisition involving the synthesis of iron-gathering compounds called siderophores. Even those fungi that do not synthesize siderophores have developed permeases for transport of such compounds formed by other organisms. Fungi can also reductively release iron from siderophores and transport the ferrous iron often by the copper oxidase transport system. There is a great diversity of iron-gathering mechanisms expressed by pathogenic fungi and such diversity may be found even in a single species.     

白念珠菌铁稳态调控网络研究进展

铁是绝大多数生物生长和代谢过程中必需的营养元素。尽管自然界中铁元素含量非常丰富,但是其生物可利用性却很低。作为一种人体常见的条件致病真菌,白念珠菌在漫长的进化过程中形成了复杂的铁稳态调控网络,能够应答环境中铁浓度的变化,增强菌株对环境的适应力。结合课题组研究工作,简要综述近几年关于铁代谢表达调控途径的研究进展,主要关注白念珠菌在环境铁匮乏条件下铁获得和调控策略,揭示白念珠菌体内铁离子摄取、转运、储存和利用机制。     

Human Transferrin Confers Serum Resistance against Bacillus anthracis

The innate immune system in humans consists of both cellular and humoral components that collaborate to eradicate invading bacteria from the body. Here, we discover that the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, does not grow in human serum. Fractionation of serum by gel filtration chromatography led to the identification of human transferrin as the inhibiting factor. Purified transferrin blocks growth of both the fully virulent encapsulated B. anthracis Ames and the non-encapsulated Sterne strain. Growth inhibition was also observed in serum of wild-type mice but not of hypotransferrinemic mice that only have ∼1% circulating transferrin levels. We were able to definitely assign the bacteriostatic activity of transferrin to its iron-binding function: neither iron-saturated transferrin nor a recombinant transferrin mutant unable to bind iron could inhibit growth of B. anthracis. Additional iron could restore bacterial growth in human serum. The observation that other important Gram-positive pathogens are not inhibited by transferrin suggests they have evolved effective mechanisms to circumvent serum iron deprivation. These findings provide a better understanding of human host defense mechanisms against anthrax and provide a mechanistic basis for the antimicrobial activity of human transferrin.     

Microbial ferric iron reductases

Almost all organisms require iron for enzymes involved in essential cellular reactions. Aerobic microbes living at neutral or alkaline pH encounter poor iron availability due to the insolubility of ferric iron. Assimilatory ferric reductases are essential components of the iron assimilatory pathway that generate the more soluble ferrous iron, which is then incorporated into cellular proteins. Dissimilatory ferric reductases are essential terminal reductases of the iron respiratory pathway in iron-reducing bacteria. While our understanding of dissimilatory ferric reductases is still limited, it is clear that these enzymes are distinct from the assimilatory-type ferric reductases. Research over the last 10 years has revealed that most bacterial assimilatory ferric reductases are flavin reductases, which can serve several physiological roles. This article reviews the physiological function and structure of assimilatory and dissimilatory ferric reductases present in the Bacteria, Archaea and Yeast. Ferric reductases do not form a single family, but appear to be distinct enzymes suggesting that several independent strategies for iron reduction may have evolved.     

细菌内依赖TonB的外膜铁转运体的研究进展

铁是细菌所必需的微量营养元素,但由于易被氧化溶解性低,生物体的利用率大大降低。细菌在进化过程中形成多种策略来吸收环境中低浓度的铁,不同类型铁的吸收通过外膜上依赖TonB的转运体(TonB-dependent transporters,TBDTs)完成,TBDTs结合不同形式的铁复合物,通过内膜上的TonB-ExbB-ExbD复合物提供能量完成转运,对其机制的研究一直是微生物基础生命活动研究中的热点问题。近年来新鉴定了一些TBDTs的结构,并对其功能和转运机制有了更深入的研究,对此进行了综述,不仅有助于进一步揭示细菌的铁转运机制,而且有助于寻找新的靶位点以开发新的治疗药物。     

Bacterial iron homeostasis

Iron is essential to virtually all organisms, but poses problems of toxicity and poor solubility. Bacteria have evolved various mechanisms to counter the problems imposed by their iron dependence, allowing them to achieve effective iron homeostasis under a range of iron regimes. Highly efficient iron acquisition systems are used to scavenge iron from the environment under iron-restricted conditions. In many cases, this involves the secretion and internalisation of extracellular ferric chelators called siderophores. Ferrous iron can also be directly imported by the G protein-like transporter, FeoB. For pathogens, host-iron complexes (transferrin, lactoferrin, haem, haemoglobin) are directly used as iron sources. Bacterial iron storage proteins (ferritin, bacterioferritin) provide intracellular iron reserves for use when external supplies are restricted, and iron detoxification proteins (Dps) are employed to protect the chromosome from iron-induced free radical damage. There is evidence that bacteria control their iron requirements in response to iron availability by down-regulating the expression of iron proteins during iron-restricted growth. And finally, the expression of the iron homeostatic machinery is subject to iron-dependent global control ensuring that iron acquisition, storage and consumption are geared to iron availability and that intracellular levels of free iron do not reach toxic levels.     

Effects of porphyrins and inorganic iron on the growth of Prevotella intermedia

We demonstrated earlier that hemin-iron-containing compounds which include hemin, human hemoglobin, bovine hemoglobin, and bovine catalase stimulate the growth of Prevotella intermedia [Leung, Subramaniam, Okamoto, Fukushima, Lai, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 162 (1998) 227-233]. However, the contributions of tetrapyrrole porphyrin ring in these hemin-iron sources as well as inorganic iron for the growth of this organism have not been determined. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of porphyrins, host iron-binding proteins, and various inorganic iron sources on the growth of hemin-iron depleted P. intermedia. Protoporphyrin IX and protoporphyrin IX-zinc, either in the presence or absence of supplemented ferrous or ferric iron, promoted the growth of P. intermedia at a rate that was comparable to that of the hemin control. On the other hand, neither the host iron proteins, transferrin and lactoferrin, nor the inorganic iron sources which included ferrous chloride, ferric chloride, ferric citrate, ferric nitrate, and ferric ammonium citrate at concentrations up to 200 microM stimulated the growth of hemin-iron-restricted P. intermedia. The results suggest that P. intermedia only use iron in a specific form and that the porphyrin-ring structure is essential for the growth of P. intermedia as in the case of other related organisms.