title: Iron acquisition and regulation systems in Streptococcus species.
abstract: Gram-positive Streptococcus species are responsible for millions of cases of meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, endocarditis, erysipelas and necrotizing fasciitis. Iron is essential for the growth and survival of Streptococcus in the host environment. Streptococcus species have developed various mechanisms to uptake iron from an environment with limited available iron. Streptococcus can directly extract iron from host iron-containing proteins such as ferritin, transferrin, lactoferrin and hemoproteins, or indirectly by relying on the employment of specialized secreted hemophores (heme chelators) and small siderophore molecules (high affinity ferric chelators). This review presents the most recent discoveries in the iron acquisition system of Streptococcus species - the transporters as well as the regulators.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China. gerg@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ruiguang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Xuesong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D007501:Iron