The Legionella pneumophila Dps homolog is regulated by iron and involved in multiple stress tolerance

✍ Scribed by Ming-jia Yu; Jun Ren; Yong-lun Zeng; Shi-ning Zhou; Yong-jun Lu

• Book ID: 102392782
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 366 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0233-111X
• DOI: 10.1002/jobm.200800357

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Iron homeostasis is essential to almost all organisms. In this study, we identified the putative homolog of the iron‐storage protein‐encoding gene, dpsL, in the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila and demonstrated its expression under iron‐limited conditions and its responses to multiple stresses. Quantitative real‐time PCR analysis indicated that the expression of dpsL was enhanced under iron limitation regardless of the growth phase. Compared with the wild‐type cells, the cells devoid of dpsL were heat and H~2~O~2~‐sensitive. In contrast to the dps mutants of other bacteria, the growth of the dpsL mutant in an iron‐deprived medium was delayed but finally reached the same cell density as wild‐type cells during the stationary phase of growth. The finding that the dpsL mutant is salt resistant suggested the involvement of DpsL in virulence. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)