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Sci­ent­ists identify a new class of biocata­lysts in the de­grad­a­tion of mar­ine car­bo­hydrates

Feb 21, 2018
Bacteria living on red seaweed (picture) digest its cell walls with a newly discovered class of enzymes. Photo: Jan-Hendrik Hehemann
Bacteria living on red seaweed (picture) digest its cell walls with a newly discovered class of enzymes. Photo: Jan-Hendrik Hehemann

Enzymes are of crucial importance for the degradation of algae biomass in the sea. Scientists from Greifswald and Bremen were able to prove this for the first time in extensive experiments. They discovered a completely new subclass of biocatalysts in sugar degradation in marine bacteria. Researchers from the University of Greifswald, the MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology Bremen present their results in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

Original publication

Participating working group at MARUM