The increasing bacterial resistance from antibiotic overuse has fostered the search for novel antimicrobial strategies. In particular, bacterial systems involving iron (Fe) uptake are studied to develop new therapeutics against infectious diseases, because iron is crucial for bacterial growth and is a main virulence factor for infection. Iron assimilation is commonly based on the production of siderophores, which are iron chelators produced to facilitate iron uptake. Siderophores are thus crucial for bacterial pathogenicity. Here we review the antimicrobial and therapeutic potential of siderophores. There are three main approaches for siderophore application in antimicrobial therapy: siderophore-mediated drug delivery, inhibition of siderophores biosynthesis and iron starvation by competitive chelation. Major advances on the use of siderophores as therapeutic agents for disease treatment are also presented.

抗生素过度使用引起的细菌耐药性增加，促使人们寻求新的抗菌策略。特别是，研究了涉及铁吸收的细菌系统，以开发针对传染病的新疗法，因为铁对于细菌的生长至关重要，并且是感染的主要毒力因子。铁同化通常基于铁载体的生产，铁载体是为促进铁吸收而生产的铁螯合剂。因此，铁载体对于细菌致病性至关重要。在这里，我们回顾了铁载体的抗菌和治疗潜力。在抗菌治疗中应用铁载体的方法主要有三种：铁载体介导的药物递送，铁载体生物合成的抑制和竞争性螯合作用对铁的饥饿。