Molecular analyses of the iron starvation response in the coagulase-negative group of staphylococci

铁是所有生命形式所必需的，但它的可用性非常低，经常使它成为限制生长的营养素。这给所有生命形式带来了重大问题，因此，它们必须找到创新的方法来获得这种营养物质才能生存。细菌也是如此。许多细菌释放出所谓的铁载体进入周围环境，结合铁并将铁送回细菌细胞。许多与人类和动物相关的细菌也可以从血红蛋白中捕获铁，以支持自身的生存。一组称为凝固酶阴性葡萄球菌的细菌通常被称为葡萄球菌，也就是说，它们与动物和人类密切相关，不会引起疾病，而是促进健康。事实上，专家估计，在哺乳动物体内和体表发现的细菌实际上是哺乳动物细胞的10倍。 对于凝固酶阴性葡萄球菌，它们在皮肤和粘膜上的存在实际上有助于防御致病细菌的感染。这项研究将确定这些细菌获得铁的方式，作为生存和生长的手段。随着我们的NSERC资助的历史特征铁收购系统在高度传染性金黄色葡萄球菌细菌，研究将在未来五年内进行的细菌将为我们提供一个基本的了解铁收购系统的相似性和差异在主要的致病细菌与重要的细菌是不太可能导致感染。这项研究将告诉我们，可能靶向致病细菌中铁获取过程的抗菌剂是否会对肠道细菌产生附带影响。

Iron is required by all life forms, yet it's very low availability frequently make it a growth-limiting nutrient. This presents significant problems to all life forms which must therefore find innovative ways to gain access to this nutrient in order to survive. This is no less true for bacteria. Many bacteria emit what are called siderophores into the surrounding environment to bind iron and deliver iron back to the bacterial cell. Many bacteria that are found in association with humans and animals can also capture iron out of hemoglobin as a way to support their own survival. A group of bacteria called coagulase-negative staphylococci are typically referred to as commensals, that is, they live in close association with animals and humans and do not cause disease but rather promote health. Indeed, experts estimate that there are actually 10 times as many bacteria found in and on mammals than there are mammalian cells. For coagulase-negative staphylococci, their very presence on skin and mucous membranes actually helps defend against infection by disease-causing bacteria. This research will identify the ways in which these bacteria access iron as a means to survive and and grow. With our NSERC-funded history of characterizing iron acquisition systems in the highly infectious Staph aureus bacterium, the research to be undertaken on the commensal bacteria over the next five years will provide us with a fundamental understanding of similarities and differences in iron acquisition systems in major disease-causing bacteria versus important commensal bacteria that are much less likely to cause infection. This research will inform us about the possibilities of whether antibacterials that might target iron acquisition processes in the disease-causing bacteria will have collateral effects on commensal bacteria.