Where is the subject of this sentence?

Question

Among the less appealing case studies is one about a fungus that is wiping out entire populations of frogs and that can be halted by a rare microbial bacterium. Another is about squid that carry luminescent bacteria that protect them against predators.

I don't really understand this line, I wonder if among the less appealing case studies is the subject of the first sentence?

I may interpret it as Among the less appealing case studies, there's one about fungus.. I want to add a there there.

Can anyone tell me what structure the first sentence is and where the subject is.

Answer 1

"One" is the subject.

The sentence follows the same structure as the simpler, "On my desk is a pen." We understand that "a pen" is the subject, and the sentence can be reordered more naturally to "A pen is on my desk".

More complex, but closer to your example would be: "Among the pens on my desk is one from Istanbul." We understand "one" is the subject, and it refers to "a pen from Istanbul", so it can be reordered as "A pen from Istanbul is among the pens on my desk."

Your example could be reordered in the same way to: "A case study about a fungus that...bacterium is among the less appealing case studies." This has the same meaning as using "there".