Siderophores bacteria

The po.ssible role of a chelate reductase for iron uptake from microbial siderophores has been examined for several plant species (30,47). With certain microbial siderophores such as rhizoferrin and rhodotorulic acid, the reductase may easily cleave iron from the siderophore to allow subsequent uptake by the ferrous iron transporter. However, with the hydroxamate siderophore, ferrioxamine B, which is produced by actinomycetes and u.sed by diverse bacteria and fungi, it has been shown that the iron stress-regulated reductase is not capable... 

Siderophore production by rhizosphere bacteria that are culturable on agar media has been estimated by plating out colonies on an indicator agar medium containing chrome azurol, a weak iron-chelating complex that changes color upon... 

Iron uptake by bacteria at sites of lateral root emergence has been further confirmed using another technique employing 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-l,3-diazole-desferrioxamine B, which is a derivitized siderophore that becomes fluorescent after it is deferrated (78). In this case, iron uptake from the siderophore ferrox-amine B was a.ssociated primarily with microbially colonized roots, but both plant and iron uptake from this chelate occurred in the regions just behind the root tips. 

Several studies have shown that ferrated pyoverdine-type siderophores can be used as iron sources for plants when added to soils (79,80). However, to date almost all attempts to supply iron to plants by inoculation of hydroponic solutions with siderophore-producing bacteria or by inoculating soils with pseudomonads have been unsuccessful (58,63,81). In experiments with cucumber, inoculation of a hydroponic medium with P. putida or with soil microorganisms and amend-... 

Figure 3 Root fingerprints of Pseudomimets sp. associated with barley seedlings showing the production of siderophore by actively growing bacteria located in the zone of elongation behind the root tips. Root.s were pressed on to an iron-deficient minimal medium selective for Pseudomonas. After growth of the colonies, the production of siderophore was visualized by exposure of the agar plate to ultraviolet light, which causes the siderophore to Huoresce.

D. B. Alexander and D. A. Zuberer, Use of chrome azurol S reagents to evaluate siderophore production by rhizosphere bacteria. Biol. Fertil. Soils 14 39 (1991). 

Siderophores are iron-complexing compounds of low molecular weight that are synthesized by bacteria and fungi, and serve to deliver iron to the microbes. Because of their exclusive affinity and specificity for Fe3+, natural siderophores and synthetic derivatives have been exploited in the treatment of human iron-overload diseases. The most successfully used example is Desferal , which is the methane sulfonate derivative of iron-free ferrioxamine B, a linear trihydroxamate (Figure 3.2). Ferrioxamine was isolated in 1958 from the culture supernatant of Streptomyces... 

The Fur protein regulates iron uptake systems in many Gram-negative bacteria. The striking phenotype of the first fur mutants isolated was the overexpression of the outer membrane receptors for siderophore iron transport. In addition, excretion of siderophores under iron-rich growth conditions was observed in these mutants, indicating that the biosynthesis of siderophores is also regulated by Fur. 

McEldowney (2000) reported that 65% of Cd2+ was associated with the cell walls of Pseudomonas fluorescens, while 33% was present in the cytoplasm, and 2% was bound to extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) excreted by the bacteria. EPS include polyssacharides, proteins and siderophores. Organic matter, derived from dead microbes, can also form extracellular complexes with metals. 

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