Transcriptional Profile of Haemophilus influenzae: Effects of Iron and Heme

Haemophilus influenzae frequently causes human disease, and humans are it’s sole niche. This bacterium has an absolute requirement for both a porphyrin and an iron source for aerobic growth, and exogenous heme can satisfy both requirements. Heme and iron can be acquired by H. influenzae from free or human protein-bound sources. The ability to selectively regulate the acquisition of heme and iron from physiological sources is a major virulence determinant for this microorganism. We utilized whole genome arrays to identify the full set of H. influenzae Rd KW20 iron and heme regulated genes. Condition specific RNA was derived from cells starved for both heme and iron and cells from the same culture 20 mins after the addition of exogenous iron and heme. The results identified 162 genes with a change in transcription ≥ 1.5 fold. Eighty genes in 42 operons were preferentially expressed under iron/ heme starvation; 82 genes in 50 operons were preferentially expressed under iron/heme replete conditions. In each case, all genes contained within the operon were co-regulated. The former group included genes encoding proteins known to have a role in iron and heme uptake as well as several hypothetical ORFs. Enzymes involved in the gluconeogenesis pathway and glycogen biosynthesis were also upregulated. The genes showing increased transcription immediately after the addition of iron and heme primarily encode proteins involved with aerobic respiration and protein biosynthesis, consistent with a relaxation of starvation. Genomic transcriptional profiling provides a more complete understanding of the effects of iron and heme availability. Keywords: Transcription analyses Three replicate cultures were grown in iron and heme depleted media for 90 minutes and samples taken for expression analyses. Fe and heme were supplemented to the remaining cultures and the cultures allowed to incubate an additional 20 minutes. Microarray analyses were used to determine changes in gene expression resulting from transfer from FeHm-deplete to FeHm-replete conditions.