Complete genome sequence of the complex carbohydrate-degrading marine bacterium, Saccharophagus degradans strain 2-40 T.

• Main Authors: Ronald M Weiner, Larry E Taylor, Bernard Henrissat, Loren Hauser, Miriam Land, Pedro M Coutinho, Corinne Rancurel, Elizabeth H Saunders, Atkinson G Longmire, Haitao Zhang, Edward A Bayer, Harry J Gilbert, Frank Larimer, Igor B Zhulin, Nathan A Ekborg, Raphael Lamed, Paul M Richardson, Ilya Borovok, Steven Hutcheson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2008-05-01
• Series: PLoS Genetics
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2386152?pdf=render

The marine bacterium Saccharophagus degradans strain 2-40 (Sde 2-40) is emerging as a vanguard of a recently discovered group of marine and estuarine bacteria that recycles complex polysaccharides. We report its complete genome sequence, analysis of which identifies an unusually large number of enzymes that degrade >10 complex polysaccharides. Not only is this an extraordinary range of catabolic capability, many of the enzymes exhibit unusual architecture including novel combinations of catalytic and substrate-binding modules. We hypothesize that many of these features are adaptations that facilitate depolymerization of complex polysaccharides in the marine environment. This is the first sequenced genome of a marine bacterium that can degrade plant cell walls, an important component of the carbon cycle that is not well-characterized in the marine environment.