mycobacteria , including the pathogen mycobacterium 
 tuberculosis , use the non - mammalian disaccharide trehalose 
 as a precursor for 
 essential cell - wall glycolipids and other metabolites . here 
 we describe 
 a strategy for exploiting trehalose metabolic pathways to label glycolipids 
 in mycobacteria with azide - modified trehalose ( treaz ) analogues . 
 subsequent 
 bioorthogonal ligation with alkyne - functionalized probes enabled detection 
 and visualization of cell - surface glycolipids . 
 characterization of 
 the metabolic fates of four treaz analogues revealed unique labeling 
 routes that can be harnessed for pathway - targeted investigation of 
 the mycobacterial trehalome .