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Mapping an ocean metabolite’s path

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Seawater contains a complex tapestry of metabolites, but for most, the microorganisms and pathways that process them remain unknown. A metabolomics analysis links a particular marine metabolite, homarine, to its bacterial degraders, genes and metabolic products, providing a roadmap for linking metabolites to microbial function.

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Fig. 1: An omics-based analysis reveals a conserved pathway for bacterial metabolism of homarine.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

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  1. Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Scott Gifford

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  1. Scott Gifford
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Scott Gifford.

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Gifford, S. Mapping an ocean metabolite’s path.
Nat Microbiol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02362-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02362-y

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