Author(s)

Dongyue Yan, Yidao Jiang^*

Department of Otolaryngology, Jingzhou Hospital Affiliated to Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China.

Iron is an essential but excessively toxic nutrient. Although iron is rich in nature, the acquisition of iron is a challenge to life. Its solubility is very low because it is mostly in the form of oxidation or hydroxide. In order to overcome this, microorganisms have evolved a variety of iron absorption pathways, the most important of which is the siderophore-dependent iron absorption pathway. Both bacteria and fungi require specific siderophore esterases to encourage the release of iron within the cell. A deeper understanding of siderophore esterases is crucial for the development of new antibacterial and antifungal diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. There have been many recent studies on anti-infectives via siderophore antibiotic couplers in which siderophore esterases have also played an important role, and in this review, we provide an overview of several of the more common iron carriers as well as siderophore esterases in terms of structure as well as function.

Siderophore, Siderophore Esterase, Hydrolysis, Enterobactin, Antibiotic

Yan, D. and Jiang, Y. (2024) Biochemical Insights into Siderophore Esterases. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 12, 60-69. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2024.122005.