Identification of an outer membrane protein responsible for the binding of the Fe-enterochelin complex to Escherichia coli cells.

Escherichia coli incorporates iron as a complex with enterochelin. By using mutants which lack one or the other, or both, of the outer membrane proteins, O-2b and O-3, we have shown that protein O-2b (feuB protein) is responsible for the primary binding of the iron-enterochelin complex to the outer membrane in the process of iron transport.