Although boron is a major constituent of seawater and its isotope ratio of use as a surrogate for pH in paleoclimate studies, its influence on microorganisms and biological processes in the oceans has been deemed insignificant. However, the handful of natural products containing boron known so far�all from the marine environment�suggests that marine microbes have made use of the high concentration of boron in their environment. We have previously shown that boron plays an important role in regulating a number of genes and proteins involved in iron acquisition in an algal-associated marine proteobacterium including the ubiquitous periplasmic iron binding protein FbpA.  Here we describe the isolation, purification and boron and iron binding studies of the recombinant FbpA from Marinobacter algicola DG893. Our findings strengthen the link between iron uptake and boron with wide biogeochemical consequences considering that iron limits microorganisms in large areas of the oceans.

Iron transport protein FbpA

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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