Production of iron‐binding compounds by marine microorganisms1

Iron‐binding compounds or siderochrome‐producing bacteria are shown to exist in the sea. Siderochromes are iron‐specific chelators important in the iron metabolism of soil microbes. Of 182 Sargasso Sea isolates from the upper 200 m, 43% excrete iron‐binding compounds. Sixteen of these were tested with a relatively insensitive but siderochrome‐specific colorimetric procedure; three showed positive siderochrome production.