Intracellular Leishmania: your iron or mine?
Iron is a co-factor for several essential enzymes and biochemical pathways, including those required for replication of pathogens such as Leishmania in macrophages. Iron acquisition is emerging as a key battleground in which the iron import systems of microbes are pitted against the iron withdrawal and sequestration systems of macrophages, with both competing for iron at the interface of host-pathogen interaction. The recent characterization of a ferrous iron transport system (LIT1) in Leishmania amazonensis that is induced intracellularly and is required for survival in macrophages and for virulence in vivo provides an elegant example of the adaptation of protozoa to the iron-poor phagosomal environment.
Marquis
Jean-François
JF
Centre for the Study of Host Resistance, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1Y6, Canada.
Gros
Philippe
P
D000818:Animals; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D007891:Leishmania / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D007896:Leishmaniasis / Q000469:parasitology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000469:parasitology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014774:Virulence
D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D007501:Iron