Non-protein-bound iron within bacterial cells and the action of bleomycin.

Damage to DNA by bleomycin in vitro is entirely dependent on the presence of an iron salt and molecular oxygen. This same reaction has been used to measure non-protein-bound iron in different bacterial species. Although several of the species examined were insensitive to the toxic effects of bleomycin, they all contained a concentration of non-protein-bound iron which should have been sufficient to allow iron-dependent damage to DNA. Other factors such as permeability or inactivation of the drug must explain their apparent insensitivity.