Siderophores form complexes with iron and transport it into the cell during iron-limiting conditions. Siderophores are potent virulence factors which help in establishing severe infection in the host, and are known to play a role in regulating quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our research aims to quantitatively estimate siderophore production in Pseudomonas.
Siderophores are extracellular molecules, so total siderophores, along with pyoverdine and pyochelin are quantified using cell-free supernatant. As pyochelin is not detected in small volume, extraction is performed from a large volume of cell-free supernatant. Recently, LCMS and biosensors have been developed for quantification of pyochelin.
LCMS is a costly setup for small laboratories, whereas biosensors are capable of quantification of pyochelin only. This simple and illustrated protocol uses minimum laboratory reagents and instrumentation, and allows siderophore's estimation from cell-free supernatant using less time.
