Iron binding before iron limitation: siderophore synthesis arose well before iron became a limiting element.

ABSTRACT: It is widely accepted that the use of siderophores, small molecules that bind and solubilize iron, emerged as a response to the dramatic reduction in bioavailability of this metal in aquatic environments caused by precipitation of iron oxides associated with the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). Here, we report a molecular clock analysis of the time of emergence of siderophore biosynthesis and utilization genes that challenges this view and argues for an emergence of these secondary metabolites that largely predates GOE. The emergence date of Non-ribosomal Peptide Synthase Independent Siderophore synthetases is found to predate by more than 1 Gy the emergence date of ferric siderophore reductases and esterases, which in turn also predate the GOE by approximately 1Gy. This temporal gap is surpri

SUBMITTER: Soares R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12919436 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature