ABC transporter-mediated uptake of iron, siderophores, heme and vitamin B12.

Microbes have developed a number of different strategies to utilize iron, which is a vital element for most organisms but not always readily available from the environment. Based on experimental studies and sequence analysis data, this article gives a short overview of ABC transporters related to iron uptake: components of three distinct families mediate the translocation of iron, siderophores, heme and vitamin B12 across the cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria.