Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems
Abstract
Molecular phylogeny and biogeochemistry indicate that eukaryotes differentiated early in Earth history. Sequence comparisons of small-subunit ribosomal RNA genes suggest a deep evolutionary divergence of Eukarya and Archaea; C27-C29 steranes (derived from sterols synthesized by eukaryotes) and strong depletion of 13C (a biogeochemical signature of methanogenic Archaea) in 2,700 Myr old kerogens independently place a minimum age on this split. Steranes, large spheroidal microfossils, and rare macrofossils of possible eukaryotic origin occur in Palaeoproterozoic rocks. Until now, however, evidence for morphological and taxonomic diversification within the domain has generally been restricted to very late Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic successions. Here we show that the cytoskeletal and ecological prerequisites for eukaryotic diversification were already established in eukaryotic microorganisms fossilized nearly 1,500 Myr ago in shales of the early Mesoproterozoic Roper Group in northern Australia.
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Much current work on trace element proxy records has been inspired by the idea that trace metal biolimitation may have been significantly different in the deep past.
“Much of the current work focused on trace element proxy records (Fig. 3) has been inspired by the idea that trace metal biolimitation may have been significantly different in the deep past (Javaux et al., 2001;Anbar and Knoll, 2002).”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Javaux et al., 2001
Since dissolved Mo is rapidly removed from sulfidic seawater, Mo-along with elements like Fe and Cu-would have limited life in the Proterozoic if euxinic waters covered the seafloor.
“Because dissolved Mo is efficiently removed from sulfidic seawater, it was suggested that Mo, amongst other elements (e.g., Fe, Cu), would have been biolimiting in the Proterozoic (Javaux et al., 2001;Anbar and Knoll, 2002) if the seafloor was covered by euxinic waters, as originally hypothesized by Canfield (1998).”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Javaux et al., 2001
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- Authors
- Javaux, E. J., Knoll, A. H., & Walter, M. R.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Knoll, Andrew H.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2001-07
- Volume
- 412
- Issue
- 6842
- Pages
- 66-69
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1832379973
- Cited by
- 418
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 13.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Macquarie University
- NASA Astrobiology Institute
- Australian Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Keywords
- early eukaryotes, eukaryotic diversification, steranes, 13C depletion, kerogen, Roper Group, Mesoproterozoic, cytoskeleton
- MeSH terms
- Australia, Cytoskeleton, Eukaryotic Cells, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Ecosystem, Eukaryota
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