Genomic and transcriptomic analysis reveals chitin metabolic pathways in the marine bacterium Microbulbifer harenosus CGMCC 1.13584T
Xuebing Ren, Xin Song, Hang Zhang, Guangqiang Wang, Fan Xie, Haerlihashi Muhetaerhan, Lianzhong Ai, Yanjun Tian · 2026
Read Genomic and transcriptomic analysis reveals chitin metabolic pathways in the marine bacterium Microbulbifer harenosus CGMCC 1.13584T by Xuebing Ren, Xin Song, Hang Zhang, Guangqiang Wang, Fan Xie, Haerlihashi Muhetaerhan, Lianzhong Ai, Yanjun Tian (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13281251.txt.
Description
Xuebing Ren and co-authors wrote a study from 2026 on how a sea bacterium breaks down chitin. Chitin is the tough stuff of crab shells and is the second most common sugar chain in nature. Sea microbes that eat it drive much of the ocean's carbon and nitrogen cycling. The team read the full gene set of one such bacterium and tracked which genes wake when it feeds on chitin.
Grown on chitin alone, the strain started slowly and poured out more chitin-cutting enzymes. Its genome held genes for two attack paths: one that cuts the chain with water, and one that burns it open. When chitin was fed, the water path's genes woke in full. In the burn path, only the first-step genes woke. The burn path opens the shell, and the water path does most of the eating.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Xuebing Ren, Xin Song, Hang Zhang, Guangqiang Wang, Fan Xie, Haerlihashi Muhetaerhan, Lianzhong Ai, Yanjun Tian |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 32 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |