Notably, iron plays an important role in the survival of pathogens within host cells (Collins, 2003), and during infection, macrophages actively export iron from the phagosome (which is the replicative niche of Brucella; Forbes and Gros, 2001); it was previously suggested that Rev.1 may have lost the ability to regulate bacterioferritin synthesis and degradation (Eschenbrenner et al., 2002). This evidence concerns the gene REV1 and infection.