Response of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Bovine Mastitis to Exogenous Iron Sources

摘要

Staphylococcus aureus can survive in conditions of extremely low iron concentration. the ability of S. aureus to use two exogenous hydroxamate types of siderophores (desferrioxamine and ferrichrome) and four iron-containing proteins found in cattle (hemin, hemoglobin, ferritin, and lactoferrin) were tested on 16 reference and clinical isolates. For all strains tested, ferrichrome and desferrioxamine showed strong growth-promoting activities in a disk diffusion assay and in liquid medium. The heme proteins hemin and hemoglobin were also found to support growth in culture media lacking other iron sources, while lacto- ferrin failed to do so.