Salmonella Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Salmonella, including details on salmonella typhimurium, food poisoning, infection, treatment.

A connection between iron-sulfur cluster metabolism and the biosynthesis of 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine pyrophosphate in Salmonella enterica.

Dougherty MJ, Downs DM

Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, 420 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706-1502, USA.

Several cellular pathways have been identified which affect the efficiency of thiamine biosynthesis in Salmonella enterica. Mutants defective in iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster metabolism are less efficient at synthesis of the pyrimidine moiety of thiamine. These mutants are compromised for the conversion of aminoimidazole ribotide (AIR) to 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine phosphate (HMP-P), not the synthesis of AIR. The gene product ThiC contains potential ligands for an Fe-S cluster that are required for function in vivo. The conversion of AIR to HMP-P is sensitive to oxidative stress, and variants of ThiC have been identified that have increased sensitivity to oxidative growth conditions. The data are consistent with ThiC or an as-yet-unidentified protein involved in HMP-P synthesis containing an Fe-S cluster required for its physiological function.

Published 19 July 2006 in Microbiology, 152: 2345-53.
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