title: Isolation of a novel Saccharophagus species (Myt-1) capable of degrading a variety of seaweeds and polysaccharides.
abstract: A bacterial strain, Myt-1, was isolated in Toyama Bay in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Myt-1 was capable of reducing the thalli of various seaweed species to single cell detritus particles. A 16S rDNA homology search revealed that the closest relative of Myt-1 was Saccharophagus degradans 2-40 (CP000282; 100% similarity), which was first isolated in Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, USA. The Myt-1 strain was capable of degrading more than 10 polysaccharides, almost all of which were also degraded by S. degradans 2-40. Analyses of alginase gene DNA sequence homology, DNA-DNA homology, and zymogram analysis of obtained polysaccharidases suggested that Myt-1 was a new species of Saccharophagus. Thus, Myt-1 is only the second species in this genus, which has contained only one strain and species since 1988, and was tentatively designated Saccharophagus sp. Myt-1. Myt-1 has considerable potential for reducing the volume of seaweed wastes, and for producing functional materials from seaweed substrate.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama Toyama 930-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sakatoku
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura