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Petrobactin is produced by both pathogenic and non-pathogenic isolates of the Bacillus cereus group of bacteria

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Abstract

Petrobactin is the primary siderophore synthesized by Bacillus anthracis str Sterne and is required for virulence of this organism in a mouse model. The siderophore’s biosynthetic machinery was recently defined and gene homologues of this operon exist in several other Bacillus strains known to be mammalian pathogens, but are absent in several known to be harmless such as B. subtilis and B. lichenformis. Thus, a common hypothesis regarding siderophore production in Bacillus species is that petrobactin production is exclusive to pathogenic isolates. In order to test this hypothesis, siderophores produced by 106 strains of an in-house library of the Bacillus cereus sensu lato group were isolated and identified using a MALDI-TOF-MS assay. Strains were selected from a previously defined phylogenetic tree of this group in order to include both known pathogens and innocuous strains. Petrobactin is produced by pathogenic strains and innocuous isolates alike, and thus is not itself indicative of virulence.

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Acknowledgements

R.B.R. is supported by the NSF-REU Bioscience and Biotechnology PUSH program for northern New Mexico. We thank Drs. David Fox and Cindy Browder for helpful discussions. This work was supported by a Laboratory Directed Research and Development exploratory research grant. Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Andrew T. Koppisch, Suraj Dhungana, Karen K. Hill, Leslie A. Colip, Raymond B. Romero, Yulin Shou, Babetta L. Marrone, Larry E. Hersman & Srinivas Iyer

  2. Department of Biology, Northern Arizona University, 500 S. Beaver St, Flagstaff, AZ, 86004, USA

    Andrew T. Koppisch

  3. Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Hakim Boukhalfa & Christy E. Ruggiero

  4. Division of Bacteriology, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1425 Porter Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702, USA

    Henry S. Heine

  5. Decision Application Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Lawrence O. Ticknor

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  1. Andrew T. Koppisch
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  2. Suraj Dhungana
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Correspondence to Andrew T. Koppisch.

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Koppisch, A.T., Dhungana, S., Hill, K.K. et al. Petrobactin is produced by both pathogenic and non-pathogenic isolates of the Bacillus cereus group of bacteria. Biometals 21, 581–589 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-008-9144-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-008-9144-9

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