Iron uptake in pseudorevertants of Escherichia coli K-12 mutants with multiple defects in the enterochelin system

Iron uptake in pseudorevertants of Escherichia coli K-12 strains which lack the ability to synthesize enterochelin, 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, and the ferrienterochelin receptor protein was characterized. In four independent pseudorevertants, the suppressor mutations which permitted growth in iron-poor environments appeared to be located in ompB, the regulatory locus for the porin proteins. Unlike wild-type cells, the pseudorevertants were unable to utilize ferrienterochelin and could acquire iron from citrate without induction by prior growth in citrate. The energy requirements of the pseudorevertant system appeared to be identical to those of the enterochelin system. Evidence that loss of the porin proteins results in the secretion by the pseudorevertants of a molecule with siderophore activity is presented; this siderophore is able to remove iron from the non-biological iron chelators nitrilotriacetic acid and α, α′-dipyridyl but not from the siderophores ferrichrome and enterochelin.