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Updated: May 24, 2026

High-throughput Siderophore Screening from Environmental Samples: Plant Tissues, Bulk Soils, and Rhizosphere Soils
Published on: February 9, 2019
Exploiting bacterial iron acquisition: siderophore conjugates
Cheng Ji1, Raúl E Juárez-Hernández, Marvin J Miller
1Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
Abstract:
Siderophores are chelators synthesized by bacteria and fungi to sequester iron, which is essential for virulence and pathogenicity. Since the process involves active transport, which is highly regulated, remarkably efficient and often microbially selective, it has been exploited as a Trojan Horse method for development of microbe-selective antibiotics. Siderophores also have significant potential for the development of imaging contrast agents and diagnostics for pathogen-selective detection. These promising results demonstrate the versatility of natural and synthetic microbial iron chelators and their potential therapeutic applications.
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