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Siderophores Production by Azospirillum: Biological Importance, Assessing Methods and Biocontrol Activity

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Handbook for Azospirillum

Abstract

Siderophores are ferric ion-specific chelating compounds produced by bacteria and fungi growing under limited availability of iron. The function of siderophores is to scavenge iron from the environment and to make the mineral available to the microbial cell. Iron is an essential element for the growth of most bacteria because it is a component of enzymes with important roles in electron transfer, RNA synthesis, and resistance to reactive oxygen intermediates, among other biological processes. Different species of plant growth-promoting bacteria produce siderophores which can be a competitive advantage for plant, not only for growth, but also as biocontrol agent against phytopathogens. In this chapter, the siderophores production by Azospirillum, biological importance, assessing methods, and biocontrol activity are revised. Additionally, methods to detect and characterize siderophores, based on the universal Chrome Azurol Sulphonate (qualitative and quantitative) assay, as well as chemical analyses, thin layer chromatography coupled with fluorescence spectroscopy, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry are described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agronomy and Zootechnics, National University of Tucumán,, Av. Kirchner 1900, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, 4000, Argentina

    Raúl O. Pedraza

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  1. Raúl O. Pedraza
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Correspondence to Raúl O. Pedraza .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Fisiología Vegetal y de la Interacción Planta-Microorganismo, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Rio Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina

    Fabricio Dario Cassán

  2. Faculty of Agricultue Food and Environme, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Central, Israel

    Yaacov Okon

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina

    Cecilia M. Creus

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Pedraza, R.O. (2015). Siderophores Production by Azospirillum: Biological Importance, Assessing Methods and Biocontrol Activity. In: Cassán, F., Okon, Y., Creus, C. (eds) Handbook for Azospirillum. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06542-7_14

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