Abstract for presentation at 11th International Congress of Human Genetics

Iron is an essential nutrient that is required by both hosts and pathogens and often represents a crucial point of control in the outcome of pathogenesis. The withdrawal of iron by hosts is an integral part of the nonspecific defense against invasive microbes while the ability of pathogens to obtain iron from their host determines their survival and virulence. In this study, we used D. melanogaster as a model host to explore the relationship between iron availability and susceptibility to Mycobacterium marinum infection. M. marinum although native to ectoderms is of interest experimentally because the infection process mimics that of its closest relative, M. tuberculosis. Briefly, Drosophila were reared on iron depleted and iron rich diets to manipulate cellular iron levels and then infected with the pathogen. We hypothesized that iron restriction would limit virulence of the infection while increased iron would favour bacterial survival and replication. Survival of flies infected under these two regimes behaved as predicted. The progression of the infection, expression of iron transport and binding genes, and effects on other aspects of host life history are discussed.