Zobellia galactanivorans is a species of 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. Z. galactanivorans contains the gene porA and porB, each encoding a β-porphyranase.
β-porphyranase porA and porB are catalytic enzymes that hydrolyze the β-D-galactopyranose (1→4) α-L-galactopyranose-6-sulfate linkage in porphyran. 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.
References
External links Type strain of Zobellia galactanivorans at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase