Figure 2.

Siderophore production as a cooperative trait [74]. Bacterial pathogens such as P. aeruginosa can secrete siderophores to scavenge iron in iron-limited environments such as host tissues (panel 1). The siderophores have high affinity to iron and can be taken up by bacteria including non-siderophore producers that still have the siderophores receptors (panel 2). Non-siderophore producers exploit wild-type producers by not paying the cost of siderophores production, but this can lead to the extinction of siderophores production in the population (panel 3).