A study led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Professor Alexandre Rosado has revealed an unusual microbial world in the Hatiba Mons hydrothermal vent fields of the central Red Sea, a site first discovered by one of his co-authors and colleagues, Assistant Professor Froukje M. van der Zwan. The research delivers the first “genome-resolved” analysis of these hydrothermal systems, providing an unprecedented view into both the types of microbes present and the metabolic functions that sustain them.