Th-Desferrioxamine: characterization of a fluorescent bacterial probe.

Diversifying our ability to guard against emerging pathogenic threats is essential for keeping pace with global health challenges, including those presented by drug-resistant bacteria. Some modern diagnostic and therapeutic innovations to address this challenge focus on targeting methods that exploit bacterial nutrient sequestration pathways, such as the desferrioxamine (DFO) siderophore used by () to sequester Fe. Building on recent studies that have shown DFO to be a versatile vehicle for chemical delivery, we show proof-of-principle that the Fe sequestration pathway can be used to deliver a potential radiotherapeutic.