zobellia galactanivorans zobellia galactanivorans zobellia galactanivorans is a gram-negative marine bacterium isolated from the surface of red algae of the coast of france. z. galactanivorans forms yellow colonies with a bacillus or diplobacillus morphology. furthermore, it is mesophilic and can grow degrade carrageenans and agars - both found in the cell wall of red algae. z. galactanivorans contains the gene porb which encodes the enzyme β-porphyranase-b. zobellia galactanivorans scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: bacteroidota class: flavobacteriia order: flavobacteriales family: flavobacteriaceae genus: zobellia species: z. galactanivorans binomial name zobellia galactanivoransbarbeyron et al., 2001 function of β-porphyranase-b β-porphyranase-b is a catalytic enzyme that hydrolyzes the β-d-galactopyranose (1→4) α-l-galactopyranose-6-sulfate linkage in porphyran. comparison of β-porphyranase-b and β-porphyranase-a there is a 35% sequence similarity between β-porphyranase-b and β-porphyranase-a. furthermore, orthologs between z. galactanivorans and bacteroides plebeius-1698, a strain of bacteroides plebeius, contain a sequence similarity of 48%-69%. homologous genes between other bacteroides species only have a 30% sequence similarity. moreover, porphyranase genes in both z. galactanivorans and b. plebeius are located in similar orders along their chromosome, or are syntenic.