@article {38339,
	title = {The Importance of Chitin in the Marine Environment},
	journal = {Marine BiotechnologyMarine Biotechnology},
	year = {2011},
	type = {10.1007/s10126-011-9388-1},
	abstract = {Chitin is the most abundant renewable polymer in the oceans and is an important source of carbon and nitrogen for marine organisms. The process of chitin degradation is a key step in the cycling of nutrients in the oceans and chitinolytic bacteria play a significant role in this process. These bacteria are autochthonous to both marine and freshwater ecosystems and produce chitinases that degrade chitin, an insoluble polysaccharide, to a biologically useful form. In this brief review, a description of the structure of chitin and diversity of chitinolytic bacteria in the oceans is provided, in the context of the significance of chitin degradation for marine life.},
	author = {Souza, C. P. and Almeida, B. C. and Rita R. Colwell and Rivera, I. N. G.}
}
