Siderophores as virulence factors--the single case where it "works"
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genegodbold commented
By now you know my objection to the inclusion of siderophores in PathGO. In short, these are involved with
- Nutrition-without these things, the microbe (bacterium) would perish in any environment where the metal in question is scarce.
- Do not harm the host in any way (no pathogenesis results)
The one exception to this is where the metal-scavenging factor has evolved specifically to strip a particular host protein (like hemoglobin) of its metal cofactor. I have documented two instances of this and have designated both of them with:
PATHGO:0000066 (mediates iron acquisition from another organism)
(See how I'm changing the name to make it obvious what is going on?)