Boronated tartrolon antibiotic produced by symbiotic cellulose-degrading bacteria in shipworm gills

摘要

Shipworms are small but mighty: When wood washes into the ocean, shipworms demolish it. Their ability to consume and destroy wood in the ocean was known to Pliny, Ovid, Aristophanes, and Homer, and the logs of Cook, Drake, and Columbus reveal the dread mariners felt for these small creatures. Their damage even may have contributed to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Today ship-worms are studied for their remarkable ability to convert recalcitrant wood polymers, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, to soluble compounds that can be used in the production of bio-fuels and fine chemicals.