Response of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to iron limitation: alterations in expression of membrane proteins without apparent siderophore production.

For acquisition of iron, an essential nutrient, most microorganisms produce siderophores (low-molecular-weight iron-chelating compounds) and membrane proteins to serve as receptors for the iron-siderophore complexes. The gonococcus does not appear to produce a siderophore, since the quantity of siderophore detected by bioassays of culture supernatants from strains F62 and FA19 was never greater than the amount present in the uninoculated medium. Iron limitation of the laboratory strains F62 and FA19 and 12 recent clinical isolates resulted in the expression of several iron-repressible membrane proteins. The expression of proteins in the apparent molecular weight range of 70,000 to 100,000 was strain dependent. All strains expressed 36,000-dalton (36K) and 19.5K proteins. FA19 and F62 were also grown in medium containing iron sources commonly encountered in vivo (i.e., transferrin, lactoferrin, hemoglobin, or hemin). Comparison of growth rates indicates that transferrin and lactoferrin were more readily utilized as iron sources than hemin and hemoglobin were. Expression of the iron-repressible proteins varied depending upon the iron source. Fewer iron-repressible proteins were observed when cells were supplied with transferrin or lactoferrin than when the cultures were grown with either hemin or hemoglobin. The 36K protein was expressed with all four iron sources.