Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Barber MF
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4455941 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Barber Matthew F MF Elde Nels C NC
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20141201 6215
Iron sequestration provides an innate defense, termed nutritional immunity, leading pathogens to scavenge iron from hosts. Although the molecular basis of this battle for iron is established, its potential as a force for evolution at host-pathogen interfaces is unknown. We show that the iron transport protein transferrin is engaged in ancient and ongoing evolutionary conflicts with TbpA, a transferrin surface receptor from bacteria. Single substitutions in transferrin at rapidly evolving sites r ...[more]