Aerobactin Explained

Aerobactin is a bacterial iron chelating agent (siderophore)^[1] found in E. coli and other Enterobacteriaceae species.^[2] https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/iai.00430-15 It is a virulence factor enabling E. coli to sequester iron in iron-poor environments such as the urinary tract.^[3]

Aerobactin is biosynthesized by the oxidation of lysine, catalyzed by the enzyme aerobactin synthase, which is then coupled to citric acid. The gene for this enzyme is found in the aerobactin operon, which is roughly 8 kilobases long and contains 5 or more genes in total.^[4]

Yersinia pestis contains genes relating to aerobactin, but they have been inactivated by a frameshift mutation, thus Y. pestis is no longer able to synthesize aerobactin.^[5]

Other homologs

• Rhizobactin from Sinorhizobium^[6]
• Alcaligin from Bordetella

Notes and References

1. J. B. Neilands . Siderophores: Structure and Function of Microbial Iron Transport Compounds . . 1995 . 270 . 26723–26726 . 7592901 . 10.1074/jbc.270.45.26723 . 45. free .
2. Johnson JR, Moseley SL, Roberts PL, Stamm WE . Aerobactin and other virulence factor genes among strains of Escherichia coli causing urosepsis: association with patient characteristics . Infect. Immun. . 56 . 2 . 405–12 . February 1988 . 2892793 . 259296 . 10.1128/iai.56.2.405-412.1988.
3. Book: Meyrier A . Schrier RW, Cohen AH, Glassock RJ, Grünfeld JP . Urinary Tract Infection . Atlas of diseases of the kidney . Blackwell Science . Oxford . 1999 . 0-632-04387-3 . 2 .
4. de Lorenzo V, Bindereif A, Paw BH, Neilands JB . Aerobactin biosynthesis and transport genes of plasmid ColV-K30 in Escherichia coli K-12 . J. Bacteriol. . 165 . 2 . 570–8 . February 1986 . 2935523 . 214457 . 10.1128/jb.165.2.570-578.1986.
5. Forman S, Nagiec MJ, Abney J, Perry RD, Fetherston JD . Analysis of the aerobactin and ferric hydroxamate uptake systems of Yersinia pestis . Microbiology . 153 . Pt 7 . 2332–41 . July 2007 . 17600077 . 10.1099/mic.0.2006/004275-0 . free .
6. Cianciotto NP . Iron acquisition by Legionella pneumophila . Biometals . 20 . 3–4 . 323–31 . June 2007 . 17180462 . 10.1007/s10534-006-9057-4 . 2040950 .