Redox-active antibiotics enhance phosphorus bioavailability

Phenazines liberate phosphate Bacteria secrete a wide range of small molecules with chemical reactivity that offers multiple functions in different contexts. Phenazines are commonly considered to be antibiotics, but they can also participate in environmental redox reactions, especially with iron. McRose and Newman found that phenazines, when added exogenously or made by bacteria in situ, can liberate phosphorous (P) in the form of phosphate from mineral surfaces, and that the production of these molecules is regulated by signaling pathways that respond to P limitation. Strains unable to produce these molecules grew more slowly under P limitation but could be rescued by the addition of exogenous phenazines. The authors hypothesize that reductive dissolution of iron oxides has the benefit of liberating P, and that this could be one mechanism of microbial P acquisition in some environments. Science , this issue p. 1033