A Widely Distributed Bacterial Pathway for Siderophore Biosynthesis Independent of Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases

Catch Fe if you can. Many siderophores are peptides biosynthesised by the well-studied nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) multienzyme family. However, recent research has demonstrated that several siderophores, for example desferrioxamine E, are assembled via an NRPS-independent siderophore (NIS) pathway. In this minireview, research progress to date on the NIS pathway is summarised, and the distribution and mechanistic rationalisations of the pathway are analysed.