1. The Legionella pneumophila Dps homolog is regulated by iron and involved in multiple stress tolerance
- Author
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Yong-lun Zeng, Shi-ning Zhou, Jun Ren, Mingjia Yu, and Yongjun Lu
- Subjects
biology ,Stationary phase ,Mutant ,Multiple stress ,Virulence ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ,Legionella pneumophila ,Gene ,Pcr analysis ,Bacteria ,Microbiology - 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 H2O2-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)
- Published
- 2009