Functional redundancy of iron acquisition systems is required for Proteus mirabilis pathogenesis during UTI

Proteus mirabilis is a primary cause of complicated urinary tract infections (UTI). Surprisingly, iron acquisition systems have been poorly characterized in this uropathogen despite the urinary tract being iron-limited. In this report the transcriptome of strain HI4320, cultured under iron limitation, was examined using microarray analysis. Of genes upregulated at least 2-fold, 45 were statistically significant and comprise 21 putative iron-regulated systems. Two of these systems, PMI0229-0239 and PMI2596-2605, are organized in operons and appear to encode siderophore biosynthesis genes. Five microarrays comparing P. mirabilis HI4320 cultured in LB broth to P. mirabilis cultured in LB broth + 15 uM Desferal (an iron chelator) were analyzed. All five arrays are biological replicates; arrays #2 and 4 are dye swaps.