ArticleMicrobiome2026
Sulfated mannan of diatoms selects host-specific microbiota in the sunlit ocean.
Article in Microbiome, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Correction: Sulfated mannan of diatoms selects host-specific microbiota in the sunlit ocean.Microbiome · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDiatoms, a keystone phylum in Earth's ecosystems, are responsible for substantial oxygen production and the fixation of carbon dioxide in the form of carbohydrates that fuel global food webs. They host diverse prokaryotes, yet how diatoms preferentially recruit those with complementary metabolic traits remains unknown.
resultsWe discovered that diatoms exude a C6-sulfated α-1,3-mannan that serves as a selective carbon source for adapted Polaribacter. Its structure was resolved using NMR spectroscopy, chromatography, chemical synthesis, and enzymatic dissection. Biochemical, physiological, and structural analyses demonstrated, that specialized Bacteroidota employ a four-enzyme pathway to metabolize this glycan. Metagenomic and transcriptomic data revealed that sulfated mannan utilization loci are globally abundant and actively expressed in surface ocean bacterioplankton. Because this mannan provides only carbon, oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen, bacteria must obtain other essential elements elsewhere, reinforcing metabolic interdependence.
conclusionsTogether, these results define a chemically specific interaction between diatoms and specialized bacteria that is mediated by a single sulfated polysaccharide and a dedicated four-enzyme degradation pathway. Presence of this pathway in marine metagenomes and transcriptomes indicates that a sulfated mannan from diatoms exerts selection pressure in the sunlit ocean microbiome. Video Abstract.
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