Recovery of nitrogen from urea cycle may explain the evolutionary success of diatoms
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 13:30
in Earth & Climate
The urea cycle is a metabolic pathway used in mammals to incorporate excess nitrogen into urea and remove it from the body. However, it appears to play a far more wide-ranging role in the group of algae known as diatoms. An international team of researchers has succeeded in identifying the urea cycle in diatoms as a distribution and recycling center for inorganic carbon and nitrogen.