Feo - Transport of ferrous iron into bacteria

Cartron, M. L., Maddocks, S., Gillingham, P., Craven, C. J. and Andrews, S. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4295-2686 (2006) Feo - Transport of ferrous iron into bacteria. Biometals, 19 (2). pp. 143-157. ISSN 0966-0844 doi: 10.1007/s10534-006-0003-2

Abstract/Summary

Bacteria commonly utilise a unique type of transporter, called Feo, to specifically acquire the ferrous (Fe2+) form of iron from their environment. Enterobacterial Feo systems are composed of three proteins: FeoA, a small, soluble SH3-domain protein probably located in the cytosol; FeoB, a large protein with a cytosolic N-terminal G-protein domain and a C-terminal integral inner-membrane domain containing two 'Gate' motifs which likely functions as the Fe2+ permease; and FeoC, a small protein apparently functioning as an [Fe-S]-dependent transcriptional repressor. We provide a review of the current literature combined with a bioinformatic assessment of bacterial Feo systems showing how they exhibit common features, as well as differences in organisation and composition which probably reflect variations in mechanisms employed and function.