Vibrio fischerisiderophore production drives competitive exclusion during dual‐species growth

What is it about?

Bacteria compete for limited nutrients. The ocean is especially depleted for iron. Here, we show that a siderophore, a molecule that sequesters iron, drives the outcome in competitions between two marine vibrio species. We characterize the siderophore biosynthetic and regulatory genes, identify a new siderophore exporter, and reveal the minimal subset of genes that can convert a siderophore non-producer into a siderophore "cheater".

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