[NEWS]
A fatty molecule thought to be unique to flowering plants has turned up in bacteria skimmed from the Adriatic Sea. The surprising finding solves a 20-year-old paleontological mystery and could affect how scientists interpret the presence of this molecule in the ecological record. Where once it suggested the presence of land and flowering plants, it could indicate marine or freshwater-dwelling bacteria instead. The molecule in question, isoarborinol, is a fatty molecule, or lip…