Staphylococcus aureus exhibits heterogeneous siderophore production within the vertebrate host

WJ Perry, JM Spraggins, JR Sheldon… - Proceedings of the …, 2019 - National Acad Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019National Acad Sciences
Siderophores, iron-scavenging small molecules, are fundamental to bacterial nutrient metal
acquisition and enable pathogens to overcome challenges imposed by nutritional immunity.
Multimodal imaging mass spectrometry allows visualization of host− pathogen iron
competition, by mapping siderophores within infected tissue. We have observed
heterogeneous distributions of Staphylococcus aureus siderophores across infectious foci,
challenging the paradigm that the vertebrate host is a uniformly iron-depleted environment …
Siderophores, iron-scavenging small molecules, are fundamental to bacterial nutrient metal acquisition and enable pathogens to overcome challenges imposed by nutritional immunity. Multimodal imaging mass spectrometry allows visualization of host−pathogen iron competition, by mapping siderophores within infected tissue. We have observed heterogeneous distributions of Staphylococcus aureus siderophores across infectious foci, challenging the paradigm that the vertebrate host is a uniformly iron-depleted environment to invading microbes.
National Acad Sciences