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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Biology of Archaea
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1422844
This article is part of the Research Topic Molecular, Cellular, and Ecological Processes of Haloarchaea View all 6 articles

Iron Starvation Results in Up-Regulation of a Probable Haloferax volcanii Siderophore Transporter

Provisionally accepted
Anna-Lena Sailer Anna-Lena Sailer 1Zivojin Jevtic Zivojin Jevtic 2Britta Stoll Britta Stoll 1Julia Wörtz Julia Wörtz 1Kundan Sharma Kundan Sharma 3Henning Urlaub Henning Urlaub 3,4Mike Dyall-Smith Mike Dyall-Smith 5Friedhelm Pfeiffer Friedhelm Pfeiffer 6Anita Marchfelder Anita Marchfelder 1*Christof Lenz Christof Lenz 3,4*
  • 1 University of Ulm, Ulm, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
  • 2 University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  • 3 Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • 4 University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • 5 The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  • 6 Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Bavaria, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The response of the haloarchaeal model organism Haloferax volcanii to iron starvation was analysed at the proteome level by data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry. Cells grown in minimal medium with normal iron levels were compared to those grown under low iron conditions, with samples being separated into membrane and cytoplasmic fractions in order to focus on import/export processes which are frequently associated with metal homeostasis. Iron starvation not only caused a severe retardation of growth but also altered the levels of many proteins. Using a comprehensive annotated spectral library and data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS), we found that iron starvation resulted in significant changes to both the membrane and the soluble proteomes of Hfx. volcanii. The most affected protein is the RND family permease HVO_A0467, which is 44fold enriched in cells grown under iron starvation. The gene HVO_A0467 can be deleted suggesting that it is not essential under standard conditions. Compared to wild type cells the deletion strain shows only slight changes in growth and cell morphologies show no differences. Molecular docking predictions indicated that HVO_A0467 may be an exporter of the siderophore schizokinen for which a potential biosynthesis cluster is encoded in the Hfx. volcanii genome. Together, these findings confirm the importance of iron for archaeal cells and suggest HVO_0467 as a siderophore exporter.

    Keywords: Haloferax volcanii, Proteome, Iron starvation, data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry, DIA-MS, import/export, metal homeostasis

    Received: 24 Apr 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sailer, Jevtic, Stoll, Wörtz, Sharma, Urlaub, Dyall-Smith, Pfeiffer, Marchfelder and Lenz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Anita Marchfelder, University of Ulm, Ulm, 89081, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
    Christof Lenz, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, 37075, Lower Saxony, Germany

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