Abstract
Microbial siderophores are multidentate Fe(III) chelators used by microbes during siderophore-mediated assimilation. They possess high affinity and selectivity for Fe(III). Among them, marine siderophore-mediated microbial iron uptake allows marine microbes to proliferate and survive in the iron-deficient marine environments. Due to their unique iron(III)-chelating properties, delivery system, structural diversity, and therapeutic potential, marine microbial siderophores have great potential for further development of various drug conjugates for antibiotic-resistant bacteria therapy or as a target for inhibiting siderophore virulence factors to develop novel broad-spectrum antibiotics. This review covers siderophores derived from marine microbes.
Highlights
Marine microbial community diversity and chemodiversity lead to the generation of numerous biological secondary metabolites
Marine siderophores are a type of low molecular weight natural products, the functions of which are to facilitate the microbial acquisition of iron in the ocean environment [4,5,6]
Based on the efficient siderophore-mediated iron acquisition mechanisms, marine siderophores may be developed as novel antimicrobials by covalently attaching clinical antibiotics to marine siderophores or novel iron chelator desferals [11,12,13,14]
Summary
Marine microbial community diversity and chemodiversity lead to the generation of numerous biological secondary metabolites These compounds increase the chances of finding valuable drug candidates [1,2,3]. Marine siderophores have exhibited various non-classical biological functions, for example, as agents which may interfere with quorum sensing regulation and swarming in bacteria, as mediators of mutualistic interactions, and as secreted signaling molecules regulating virulence factors of pathogens [15,16,17]. These wide range of activities exhibited their great potential in medicine.
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