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oa A Metabolic Framework for Carbon Isotope Patterns in Biomarkers
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, IMOG 2025, Sep 2025, Volume 2025, p.1 - 2
Abstract
Metabolic regulation, especially in response to environmental stressors, is difficult to directly assess from the biomarker record, but can directly affect biomarker-based proxies. Geologic biomarker records can become more robust proxies of past growth conditions through improved understanding of their sensitivity to metabolic fluxes. To do this, we need to learn how metabolic fluxes are inscribed on the properties of molecules that we can potentially analyze. Here, we target intramolecular carbon isotope patterns to gain insight into metabolic fluxes related to lipid synthesis pathways. The effects of three key enzymes for lipid biosynthesis on the carbon isotope patterns within lipids were investigated with metabolic isotopologue models and the results were compared to molecular-average d13C values.