Polymer Degrading Marine Bacteria: an Un(der)utilized Source of Chemical and Biocatalytic Novelty

is a genus of halophilic bacteria that are commonly detected in the commensal marine microbiomes. These bacteria have been recognized for their ability to degrade polysaccharides and other polymeric materials. Increasingly, genomes indicate these bacteria to be an untapped reservoir for novel natural product discovery and biosynthetic novelty. In this review, we summarize the distribution of bacteria, activities of the various polymer degrading enzymes that these bacteria produce, and an up-to-date summary of the natural products that have been isolated from strains. We argue that these bacteria have been hiding in plain sight, and contemporary efforts into their genome and metabolome mining are going to lead to a proliferation of -derived natural products in the future. We also describe, where possible, the ecological interactions of these bacteria in marine microbiomes.