Involvement of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa MexAB–OprM efflux pump in the secretion of the metallophore pseudopaline

ABSTRACTThe ability for all organisms to acquire metals from their environment is essential for life. To overcome the metal restriction imposed by the host’s nutritional immunity, bacterial pathogens exploits the use of small high metal affinity molecules called metallophores. Metallophores are first synthetized in the cytoplasm, then secreted into the medium where they sequester the metal. The metal-metallophore complex is then imported into the bacterium following binding to dedicated cell surface receptors. Recently, a new family of metallophores has been discovered in pathogenic bacteria called staphylopine in Staphylococcus aureus and pseudopaline in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, we ar…