Blue-Green Algae: Their Excretion of Iron-Selective Chelators Enables Them to Dominate Other Algae

During blue-green algal blooms, other algae can be completely suppressed. This ability of blue-green algae to suppress other algae may be determined by the abailability of iron. Iron deprivation induces the production of hydroxamate chelators, which appear to be the agent suppressing other algae.