MIT News breed · Science

Marine Bacteria Cooperate to Degrade Fucoidan

A new study reveals that marine bacteria break down the complex carbon-storing molecule fucoidan through a division of labor, rather than by any single organism.

Fucoidan, produced by brown algae, is difficult to degrade due to its variable structure, allowing it to sink and store carbon in the ocean.

Scientists observed that fucoidan degradation is a collaborative effort. Eight bacterial strains were isolated, but no single strain could fully break down the molecule.

Some strains specialize in degrading fucoidan's backbone, while others remove its side branches. This specialization leads to synergistic degradation exceeding individual efforts.

A simplified model categorizing bacterial activity into two roles successfully predicted degradation in communities with up to seven strains and across nine different fucoidans.

This "diversity-limited degradation" concept suggests that missing complementary specialists prolongs fucoidan's persistence, contributing to carbon storage.

The findings suggest combining teams of microbes with complementary tasks is a promising approach for processing complex biomass.

Understanding complex systems may require identifying the right level of simplification, potentially applicable to predicting the breakdown of other biopolymers.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.