Iron assimilation and utilization in anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria

Christina Ferousi (1) , Simon Lindhoud (1) , Frauke Baymann (2) , Boran Kartal (3) , Mike Sm Jetten (1, 4) , Joachim Reimann (1)

1 Institute for Wetland and Water Research
2 BIP - Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines
3 Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
4 Soehngen Institute of Anaerobic Microbiology

The most abundant transition metal in biological systems is iron. It is incorporated into protein cofactors and serves either catalytic, redox or regulatory purposes. Anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (anammox) bacteria rely heavily on iron-containing proteins – especially cytochromes – for their energy conservation, which occurs within a unique organelle, the anammoxosome. Both their anaerobic lifestyle and the presence of an additional cellular compartment challenge our understanding of iron processing. Here, we combine existing concepts of iron uptake, utilization and metabolism, and cellular fate with genomic and still limited biochemical and physiological data on anammox bacteria to propose pathways these bacteria may employ.

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Organic chemistry; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology

Christina Ferousi, Simon Lindhoud, Frauke Baymann, Boran Kartal, Mike Sm Jetten, et al.. Iron assimilation and utilization in anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2017, Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 37, pp.129 - 136. ⟨10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.03.009⟩. ⟨hal-01501483⟩