Mar. Drugs 2013, 11, 1977-1998; doi:10.3390/md11061977 OPEN ACCESS Marine Drugs ISSN 1660-3397 www.mdpi.com/journal/marinedrugs Article Comparative Analysis of Glycoside Hydrolases Activities from Phylogenetically Diverse Marine Bacteria of the Genus Arenibacter Irina Bakunina 1,*, Olga Nedashkovskaya 1, Larissa Balabanova 1, Tatyana Zvyagintseva 1, Valery Rasskasov 1 and Valery Mikhailov 1,2 1 Laboratory of Enzyme Chemistry, Laboratory of Microbiology and Laboratory of Molecular Biology of G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690022, Russia; E-Mails:
[email protected] (O.N.);
[email protected] (L.B.);
[email protected] (T.Z.);
[email protected] (V.R.);
[email protected] (V.M.) 2 School of Natural Sciences, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok 690091, Russia * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +7-432-231-07-05-3; Fax: +7-432-231-07-05-7. Received: 29 March 2013; in revised form: 22 May 2013 / Accepted: 27 May 2013 / Published: 10 June 2013 Abstract: A total of 16 marine strains belonging to the genus Arenibacter, recovered from diverse microbial communities associated with various marine habitats and collected from different locations, were evaluated in degradation of natural polysaccharides and chromogenic glycosides. Most strains were affiliated with five recognized species, and some presented three new species within the genus Arenibacter. No strains contained enzymes depolymerizing polysaccharides, but synthesized a wide spectrum of glycosidases. Highly active β-N-acetylglucosaminidases and α-N-acetylgalactosaminidases were the main glycosidases for all Arenibacter.