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The Importance of Chitin in the Marine Environment

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Abstract

Chitin is the most abundant renewable polymer in the oceans and is an important source of carbon and nitrogen for marine organisms. The process of chitin degradation is a key step in the cycling of nutrients in the oceans and chitinolytic bacteria play a significant role in this process. These bacteria are autochthonous to both marine and freshwater ecosystems and produce chitinases that degrade chitin, an insoluble polysaccharide, to a biologically useful form. In this brief review, a description of the structure of chitin and diversity of chitinolytic bacteria in the oceans is provided, in the context of the significance of chitin degradation for marine life.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to FAPESP and CNPq for the financial support. C.P.S. acknowledges a postdoctoral fellowship from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo).

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  1. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, 1374, Prof. Lineu Prestes Av., 05508–000, São Paulo, Brazil

    Claudiana P. Souza, Bianca C. Almeida & Irma N. G. Rivera

  2. Maryland Pathogen Research Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Rita R. Colwell

  3. University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Rita R. Colwell

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  1. Claudiana P. Souza
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Correspondence to Irma N. G. Rivera.

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Souza, C.P., Almeida, B.C., Colwell, R.R. et al. The Importance of Chitin in the Marine Environment. Mar Biotechnol 13, 823–830 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-011-9388-1

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