Persephonella marina possesses two enzymic systems for the synthesis of glucosylglycerate. The first one is a single-step pathway in which glucosylglycerate synthase catalyses the synthesis of 2-O-(alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)-D-glycerate in one-step from ADP-glucose and D-glycerate. The second system is a two-step pathway in which EC 2.4.1.266 (glucosyl-3-phosphoglycerate synthase) catalyses the conversion of NDP-glucose and 3-phospho-D-glycerate into 2-O-(alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)-3-phospho-D-glycerate, which is then converted to 2-O-(alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)-D-glycerate by EC 3.1.3.85 (glucosyl-3-phosphoglycerate phosphatase).