Small RNAs controlling iron metabolism

Abstract

Iron is one of the most important metals in the metabolism of many organisms, including bacteria, in which it serves as a cofactor in multiple enzymatic reactions. Most of the earlier research on iron regulation in bacteria has focused on the transcriptional regulator Fur and its effect on the many genes involved in iron uptake. More recent work demonstrates the essential role of a small regulatory RNA, RyhB, in iron metabolism. RyhB downregulates a large number of transcripts encoding iron-using proteins, resulting in redistribution of the intracellular iron. Recent advances have been made in the understanding of the small RNAs that modulate the intracellular iron usage in different organisms such as, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae, Shigella flexneri and cyanobacteria.