''Saccharophagus degradans'' is a gram-negative

marine bacterium Marine prokaryotes are marine bacteria and marine archaea. They are defined by their habitat as prokaryotes that live in Marine habitat, marine environments, that is, in the saline water, saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of ...

known to degrade a number of complex polysaccharides as energy source. ''S. degradans'' have also been shown to ferment

xylose Xylose ( , , "wood") is a sugar first isolated from wood, and named for it. Xylose is classified as a monosaccharide of the aldopentose type, which means that it contains five carbon atoms and includes an aldehyde functional group. It is deriv ...

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

. In recent studies, ''Saccharophagus degradans'' from

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

was effectively used to produce

cellulosic ethanol Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) produced from cellulose (the stringy fiber of a plant) rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a ...

. Cellulosic ethanol production by means of bacterial action could be the key cheap production of cellulosic ethanol for global mass market production of

bioethanol Ethanol fuel is fuel containing ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol as found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. Several common ethanol fuel mixtures are in use a ...

. It is currently produced by such means as

gasification Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reacting ...

. ''Saccharophagus degradans'' is the only species in the genus ''Saccharophagus''.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Saccharophagus degradans'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Gammaproteobacteria Monotypic bacteria genera Bacteria described in 2005 {{Gammaproteobacteria-stub