New findings illuminate how Prochlorococcus’ nightly “cross-feeding” plays a role in regulating the ocean’s capacity to cycle and store carbon.

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Story Image: Prochlorococcus tend to shed their molecular baggage at night. For a microbe called SAR11, the researchers found that the nighttime snack acts as a relaxant of sorts. Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT

Braakman, Rogier et al (2025),  Global niche partitioning of purine and pyrimidine cross-feeding among ocean microbes, Science Advances, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp1949