Genomics-driven discovery of taiwachelin, a lipopeptide siderophore from Cupriavidus taiwanensis

A genome mining study led to the identification of a previously unrecognised siderophore biosynthesis gene cluster in the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Cupriavidus taiwanensis LMG19424. Based upon predicted structural residues, a convenient strategy for an NMR-assisted isolation of the associated metabolite was designed. The structure of the purified siderophore, taiwachelin, was fully characterized by spectroscopic methods and chemical derivatisation.