High-performance liquid chromatography of siderophores from fungi

A reversed-phase HPLC separation of iron(III) chelates of 16 representative fungal siderophores including ferrichromes, coprogens and triacetylfusarinine C was established in order to investigate siderophore production of fungi. For comparison purposes, the widely used bacterial siderophore ferrioxamine B was included. Culture filtrates of the fungi Penicillium resticulosum, Fusarium dimerum, Aspergillus fumigatus and Neurospora crassa were quantitatively analyzed for the presence of known and unknown siderophores after growth in low-iron culture media and adsorption on XAD-2 columns using this HPLC separation system. Photodiode array detection allowed the distinction between siderophores and non-siderophores. According to their ultraviolet/visible spectra, a further classification of the siderophores into four types due to the number of anhydromevalonic acid residues per molecule (0-3) was possible.