Iron homeostasis and responses to iron limitation in extreme acidophiles from the Ferroplasma genus

Extremely acidophilic archaea from the genus Ferroplasma inhabit iron-rich biomining environments and are important constituents of naturally occurring microbial consortia that catalyze the production of acid mine drainage. A combined bioinformatic, transcript profiling, and proteomic approach was used to elucidate iron homeostasis mechanisms in "F. acidarmanus" Fer1 and F. acidiphilum Y(T) . Bioinformatic analysis of the "F. acidarmanus" Fer1 genome sequence revealed genes encoding proteins hypothesized to be involved in iron-dependent gene regulation and siderophore biosynthesis; the Fhu and NRAMP cation acquisition systems; iron storage proteins; and the SUF machinery for the biogenesis of Fe-S clusters. A subset of homologous genes was identified on the F. acidiphilum Y(T) chromosome by direct PCR probing. In both strains, some of the genes appeared to be regulated in a ferrous/ferric iron-dependent manner, as indicated by RT-PCR. A detailed gel-based proteomics analysis of responses to iron depletion showed that a putative isochorismatase, presumably involved in siderophore biosynthesis, and the SufBCD system were upregulated under iron-limiting conditions. No evidence was obtained for iron sparing response during iron limitation. This study constitutes the first detailed investigation of iron homeostasis in extremely acidophilic archaea.