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Precise age of Bangiomorpha pubescens dates the origin of eukaryotic photosynthesis
Abstract
Although the geological record indicates that eukaryotes evolved by 1.9–1.4 Ga, their early evolution is poorly resolved taxonomically and chronologically. The fossil red alga Bangiomorpha pubescens is the only recognized crown-group eukaryote older than ca. 0.8 Ga and marks the earliest known expression of extant forms of multicellularity and eukaryotic photosynthesis. Because it postdates the divergence between the red and green algae and the prior endosymbiotic event that gave rise to the chloroplast, B. pubescens is uniquely important for calibrating eukaryotic evolution. However, molecular clock estimates for the divergence between the red and green algae are highly variable, and some analyses estimate this split to be younger than the widely inferred but poorly constrained first appearance age of 1.2 Ga for B. pubescens. As a result, many molecular clock studies reject this fossil ex post facto. Here we present new Re-Os isotopic ages from sedimentary rocks that stratigraphically bracket the occurrence of B. pubescens in the Bylot Supergroup of Baffin Island and revise its first appearance to 1.047 +0.013/–0.017 Ga. This date is 150 m.y. younger than commonly held interpretations and permits more precise estimates of early eukaryotic evolution. Using cross-calibrated molecular clock analyses with the new fossil age, we calculate that photosynthesis within the Eukarya emerged ca. 1.25 Ga. This date for primary plastid endosymbiosis serves as a benchmark for interpreting the fossil record of early eukaryotes and evaluating their role in the Proterozoic biosphere.
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“More recent analyses have tended to resolve an older LECA, with ages closer to 1 Ga being less plausible on the basis of fossils from that period that can uncontroversially be assigned to crown Archaeplastida.”
From ATP synthase evolution on a cross-braced dated tree of life (2023) · cites this paper as [101]
In the citing paper
“and emergence of the crown group, expressed in simple multicellular red algae, is placed at ∼1.05 Ga (Butterfield, 2000; Gibson et al., 2018)”
From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Gibson et al., 2018
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Gibson, T. M., Shih, P. M., Cumming, V. M., Fischer, W. W., Crockford, P. W., Hodgskiss, M. S. W., Wörndle, S., Creaser, R. A., Rainbird, R. H., Skulski, T. M., & Halverson, G. P.
- Affiliations
- Geotop (CA)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Geological Survey of Canada (CA)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Geology
- Publisher
- Geological Society of America
- Published
- 2017-12-08
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 135-138
- ISSN
- 0091-7613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2771649706
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 6.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Geology (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- eukaryotic origin, red algae, plastid endosymbiosis, molecular clock calibration, Re-Os isotopes, Proterozoic, multicellularity
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