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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

The Barnacle Balanus improvisus as a Marine Model - Culturing and Gene Expression
Published on: August 8, 2018
Distribution, diversity and functional dissociation of the mac genes in marine biofilms
Wei Ding1, Weipeng Zhang1, Ruojun Wang1
1a Department of Ocean Science and Division of Life Science , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Hong Kong , PR China.
Abstract:
Bacteria produce metamorphosis-associated contractile (MAC) structures to induce larval metamorphosis in Hydroides elegans. The distribution and diversity of mac gene homologs in marine environments are largely unexplored. In the present study mac genes were examined in marine environments by analyzing 101 biofilm and 91 seawater metagenomes. There were more mac genes in biofilms than in seawater, and substratum type, location, or sampling time did not affect the mac genes in biofilms. The mac gene clusters were highly diverse and often incomplete while the three MAC components co-occurred with other genes of different functions. Genomic analysis of four Pseudoalteromonas and two Streptomyces strains revealed the mac genes transfers among different microbial taxa. It is proposed that mac genes are more specific to biofilms; gene transfer among different microbial taxa has led to highly diverse mac gene clusters; and in most cases, the three MAC components function individually rather than forming a complex.
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