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Sandra K. Armstrong,
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology
University of Missouri-Columbia, 1986, Ph.D.
armst018@umn.edu
612-625-6947 office
612-624-5177 lab
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Research Interests:
Iron Acquisition in Bordetella species
Nearly all organisms require nutritive iron and its assimilation
is essential for invading pathogenic bacteria to establish
infection in the iron-limiting environment of the host. Research
in my laboratory is centered on iron retrieval by members
of the bacterial genus Bordetella.
Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella bronchiseptica and
Bordetella parapertussis are mammalian respiratory
pathogens that are highly genetically-related Gram-negative
members of the family Alcaligenaceae. B. pertussis,
the agent of whooping cough (pertussis), is an obligate human
pathogen. B. parapertussis causes respiratory infections
in humans and sheep, and B. bronchiseptica infects
nonhuman mammals, causing kennel cough in dogs, atrophic rhinitis
in swine and snuffles in rabbits. These Bordetella
species obtain iron supplied by their native iron-chelating
siderophore, alcaligin, as well as siderophores produced by
other microbial species (termed xenosiderophores) and from
host iron containing compounds including heme. These iron
retrieval systems are expressed when the bacteria are starved
for iron and expression is further activated by cognate transcriptional
regulators that respond to the presence of the specific iron
compound. Recent studies also indicate that these bacteria
can utilize host neuroendocrine hormones, such as norepinephrine,
for iron retrieval. Our studies are aimed at understanding
the processes governing the expression of different Bordetella
iron acquisition systems in the host during the course of
infection.
Selected Recent Publications:
- Brickman, T.J., Hanawa T., Anderson M.T., Suhadolc, R.J.
and S.K. Armstrong. 2008. Differential expression of Bordetella
pertussis iron transport system genes during infection.
Mol.
Microbiol. 70:3-14.
- Anderson, M.T. and S.K. Armstrong. 2008. Norepinephrine
mediates acquisition of transferrin-iron in Bordetella bronchiseptica.
J.
Bacteriol. 190:3940-3947.
- Brickman, T.J. and S.K. Armstrong. 2007. Impact of alcaligin
siderophore utilization on in vivo growth of Bordetella
pertussis. Infect.
Immun. 75:5305-5312.
- Brickman, T.J., M.T. Anderson, and S.K. Armstrong. 2007.
Bordetella iron transport and virulence. BioMetals.
20:303-322.
- Anderson, M.T., Armstrong, S.K. 2006. The Bordetella
bfe system: growth and transcriptional response to siderophores,
catechols, and neuroendocrine catecholamines. J
Bacteriol. 188(16):5731-40.
- Brickman, T.J., Vanderpool, C.K., Armstrong, S.K. 2006.
Heme transport contributes to in vivo fitness of Bordetella
pertussis during primary infection in mice. Infect
Immun. 74(3):1741-4.
- Brickman, T.J., Armstrong, S.K. 2005. Bordetella
AlcS transporter functions in alcaligin siderophore export
and is central to inducer sensing in positive regulation
of alcaligin system gene expression. J
Bacteriol. 2005 Jun;187(11):3650-61.
Last modified on: October 3, 2008 |
