The role of iron in the growth and metabolism of M. tuberculosis and other mycobacteria is
discussed in relation to the acquisiton of iron from host sources, such as transferrin,
lactoferrin and ferritin, and its subsequent assimilation and utilization by the bacteria. Key
components involved in the acquisition of iron (as ferric ion) and its initial transport into the
mycobacterial cell are extracellular iron binding agents (siderophores) which, in pathogenic
mycobacteria, are the carboxymycobactins and, in saprophytic mycobacteria, are the …