Marine Bacteria Team Up to Break Down Ocean's Tough Carbon-Storing Molecule

12:13 PM ETDeveloping

Science Desk

In Short: Scientists have discovered that marine bacteria can work together to break down fucoidan, a complex molecule that can store carbon in the ocean, suggesting new ways to predict and understand natural carbon cycles.

The researchers found that bacteria with complementary capabilities often occur together in natural ocean samples, indicating that the division of labor observed in the lab may also play a role in the ocean.

Fucoidan is very difficult for microbes to break down due to its complex chemical structure, which can vary significantly between algae species, making it resistant to decay.

For many years, individual bacteria were known to break down pieces of fucoidan, but the question of whether a microbial community could fully break it down remained unanswered until now.

The researchers used a new, rapid mass-spectrometry method to observe how bacteria consumed individual sugar building blocks, revealing a clear pattern in the breakdown process.

What's still developing

The finding suggests that scientists may be able to predict how efficiently other complex, carbon-rich biological materials are broken down in nature, even when their exact chemistry and the enzymes involved are only partly understood.
This resistance to decay is one reason why fucoidan matters; when microbes struggle to break it down, fucoidan can sink deep into the ocean, carrying carbon with it and potentially storing it for long periods.
On their own, none of these strains could fully break down the molecule.

Sources

MIT Newslink