Bacterial Strategies to Maintain Zinc Metallostasis at the Host-Pathogen Interface

Among the biologically required first row, late d-block metals from Mn-II to Zn-II, the catalytic and structural reach of ZnII ensures that this essential micronutrient touches nearly every major metabolic process or pathway in the cell. Zn is also toxic in excess, primarily because it is a highly competitive divalent metal and will displace more weakly bound transition metals in the active sites of metalloenzymes if left unregulated. The vertebrate innate immune system uses several strategies to exploit this Achilles heel of microbial physiology, but bacterial evolution has responded in kind. This review highlights recent insights into transcriptional, transport, and trafficking mechanisms that pathogens use to win the fight over zinc and thrive in an otherwise hostile environment.