Derepression of the Azotobacter vinelandii siderophore system, using iron-containing minerals to limit iron repletion

Abstract

Azotobacter vinelandii solubilized iron from certain minerals using only dihydroxybenzoic acid, which appeared to be produced constitutively. Solubilization of iron from other minerals required dihydroxybenzoic acid and the siderophore N,N'-bis-(2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl)-L-lysine (azotochelin) or these chelators plus the yellow-green fluorescent siderophore azotobactin. In addition to this sequential production of siderophores, cells also demonstrated partial to hyperproduction relative to the iron-limited control. The iron sources which caused partial derepression of the siderophores caused derepression of all the high-molecular-weight iron-repressible outer membrane proteins except a 77,000-molecular-weight protein, which appeared to be coordinated with azotobactin production. Increased siderophore production correlated with increased production of outer membrane proteins with molecular weights of 93,000, 85,000, and 77,000, but an 81,000-molecular-weight iron-repressible protein appeared at a constant level despite the degree of derepression. When iron was readily available, it appeared to complex with a 60,000-molecular-weight protein believed to form a surface layer on the A. vinelandii cell.