Cn. Cornelissen et Pf. Sparling, IRON PIRACY - ACQUISITION OF TRANSFERRIN-BOUND IRON BY BACTERIAL PATHOGENS, Molecular microbiology, 14(5), 1994, pp. 843-850
The mechanism of iron utilization from transferrin has been most exten
sively characterized in the pathogenic Neisseria species and Haemophil
us species. Two transferrin-binding proteins, Tbp1 and Tbp2, have been
identified in these pathogens and are thought to be components of the
transferrin receptor. Tbp1 appears to be an integral, Tone-dependent
outer membrane protein while Tbp2, a lipoprotein, may be peripherally
associated with the outer membrane. The relative contribution of each
of these proteins to transferrin binding and utilization is discussed
and a model of iron uptake from transferrin is presented. Sequence com
parisons of the genes encoding neisserial transferrin-binding proteins
suggest that they are probably under positive selection for variation
and may have resulted from inter-species genetic exchange.