Zobellia galactanivorans explained

Zobellia galactanivorans is a gram-negative marine bacterium isolated from the surface of red algae of the coast of France. Z. galactanivorans forms yellow colonies with a bacillus or diplobacillus morphology. Furthermore, it is mesophilic and can grow degrade carrageenans and agars - both found in the cell wall of red algae.^[1] Z. galactanivorans contains the gene porA and porB, each encoding a β-porphyranase.^[2]

β-porphyranase

porA and porB are catalytic enzymes that hydrolyze the β-D-galactopyranose (1→4) α-L-galactopyranose-6-sulfate linkage in porphyran.^[3] There is a 35% sequence similarity between β-Porphyranase-B and β-Porphyranase-A.

Horizontal gene transfer

Orthologs between Z. galactanivorans and Bacteroides plebeius-1698, a strain of Bacteroides plebeius, contain a sequence similarity of 48%-69%. Homologous genes between other Bacteroides species only have a 30% sequence similarity. Moreover, porphyranase genes in both Z. galactanivorans and B. plebeius are located in similar orders along their chromosome, or are syntenic.

External links

• Type strain of Zobellia galactanivorans at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Notes and References

1. Barbeyron T, L'Haridon S, Corre E, Kloareg B, Potin P . Zobellia galactanovorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a marine species of Flavobacteriaceae isolated from a red alga, and classification of [Cytophaga] uliginosa (ZoBell and Upham 1944) Reichenbach 1989 as Zobellia uliginosa gen. nov., comb. nov . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 51 . Pt 3 . 985–97 . May 2001 . 11411725 . 10.1099/00207713-51-3-985 . free .
2. Hehemann JH, Correc G, Thomas F, Bernard T, Barbeyron T, Jam M, Helbert W, Michel G, Czjzek M . Biochemical and structural characterization of the complex agarolytic enzyme system from the marine bacterium Zobellia galactanivorans . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 287 . 36 . 30571–84 . August 2012 . 22778272 . 3436304 . 10.1074/jbc.M112.377184 . free .
3. Hehemann JH, Correc G, Barbeyron T, Helbert W, Czjzek M, Michel G . Transfer of carbohydrate-active enzymes from marine bacteria to Japanese gut microbiota . Nature . 464 . 7290 . 908–12 . April 2010 . 20376150 . 10.1038/nature08937 . 2010Natur.464..908H . 2820027 .