Tuberculosis is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, an intracellular pathogen that survives inside macrophage phagosomes. In the WikiBiome framework, TB exemplifies the intracellular metal battleground: M. tuberculosis deploys mycobactins (lipophilic siderophores) and carboxymycobactins (hydrophilic siderophores) to pirate iron from the host, while the host uses IFN-γ-driven nutritional immunity to restrict iron access [1].
Metal Ecology
- Iron: Mycobactin/carboxymycobactin iron acquisition is essential for intraphagosomal survival. Mycobactin detection in patient sputum serves as a TB diagnostic biomarker.
- Zinc: M. tuberculosis zinc uptake regulated by Zur regulon; zinc is essential for multiple metalloenzymes [2].
- Co-selection: Metal resistance genes in environmental mycobacteria co-selected with antibiotic resistance [3].
Cross-References
- mycobacterium tuberculosis — species page
- iron — mycobactin siderophore system
- siderophores — mycobactin as species-specific siderophore
- nutritional immunity — IFN-γ-driven iron restriction
- ifn gamma — primary host defense cytokine against TB
- hiv — major TB co-infection