A marine worm with no mouth and no gut makes its own enzyme for digesting the bioplastic its skin bacteria build up, and the same kind of enzyme turned up in 66 more animal species across nine phyla, from a sponge to an earthworm to a springtail
Source ↗
👁 0
💬 0
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology report that gutless marine worms make an enzyme that breaks down the bioplastic their skin bacteria build up, a job that had only ever been demonstrated in bacteria and fungi, with two species of single-celled protist known to carry the sequence but never tested.
Sequences resembling that enzyme had already been annotated in animal genomes. Nobody had shown that any of them worked. The new result is the functional demonstration, plu
Sequences resembling that enzyme had already been annotated in animal genomes. Nobody had shown that any of them worked. The new result is the functional demonstration, plu
Comments (0)