Lost world of complex life and the late rise of the eukaryotic crown.

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0410462 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1476-4687 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00280836 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nature Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Basingstoke : Nature Publishing Group
Original Publication: London, Macmillan Journals ltd.

Biological Evolution* ; Eukaryota*/chemistry ; Eukaryota*/classification ; Eukaryota*/metabolism ; Fossils*; Bacteria/chemistry ; Bacteria/metabolism ; Eukaryotic Cells/chemistry ; Eukaryotic Cells/classification ; Eukaryotic Cells/metabolism ; Sterols/analysis ; Sterols/biosynthesis ; Sterols/isolation & purification ; Sterols/metabolism ; Geologic Sediments/chemistry ; Biosynthetic Pathways ; Aquatic Organisms/chemistry ; Aquatic Organisms/classification ; Aquatic Organisms/metabolism ; Biota ; Phylogeny ; History, Ancient

Eukaryotic life appears to have flourished surprisingly late in the history of our planet. This view is based on the low diversity of diagnostic eukaryotic fossils in marine sediments of mid-Proterozoic age (around 1,600 to 800 million years ago) and an absence of steranes, the molecular fossils of eukaryotic membrane sterols ^1,2 . This scarcity of eukaryotic remains is difficult to reconcile with molecular clocks that suggest that the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) had already emerged between around 1,200 and more than 1,800 million years ago. LECA, in turn, must have been preceded by stem-group eukaryotic forms by several hundred million years ³ . Here we report the discovery of abundant protosteroids in sedimentary rocks of mid-Proterozoic age. These primordial compounds had previously remained unnoticed because their structures represent early intermediates of the modern sterol biosynthetic pathway, as predicted by Konrad Bloch ⁴ . The protosteroids reveal an ecologically prominent 'protosterol biota' that was widespread and abundant in aquatic environments from at least 1,640 to around 800 million years ago and that probably comprised ancient protosterol-producing bacteria and deep-branching stem-group eukaryotes. Modern eukaryotes started to appear in the Tonian period (1,000 to 720 million years ago), fuelled by the proliferation of red algae (rhodophytes) by around 800 million years ago. This 'Tonian transformation' emerges as one of the most profound ecological turning points in the Earth's history.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

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0 (Sterols)

Date Created: 20230607 Date Completed: 20230630 Latest Revision: 20230630

20231215

10.1038/s41586-023-06170-w

37286610