  We study the equations of motion of fermions in type IIB supergravity in the
context of the gauge/gravity correspondence. The main motivation is the search
for normalizable fermionic zero modes in such backgrounds, to be interpreted as
composite massless fermions in the dual theory. We specialize to backgrounds
characterized by a constant dilaton and a self-dual three-form. In the specific
case of the Klebanov--Strassler solution we construct explicitly the fermionic
superpartner of the Goldstone mode associated with the broken baryonic
symmetry. The fermionic equations could also be used to search for goldstinos
in theories that break supersymmetry dynamically.
