Phylogenetic Distribution of Polysaccharide-Degrading Enzymes in Marine Bacteria

Deconstruction is an essential step of conversion of polysaccharides, and polysaccharide-degrading enzymes play a key role in this process. Although there is recent progress in the identification of these enzymes, the diversity and phylogenetic distribution of these enzymes in marine microorganisms remain largely unknown, hindering our understanding of the ecological roles of marine microorganisms in the ocean carbon cycle. Here, we studied the phylogenetic distribution of nine types of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes in marine bacterial genomes. First, we manually compiled a reference sequence database containing 961 experimentally verified enzymes. With this reference database, we annota…