Journal article
Putative sponge biomarkers in unicellular Rhizaria question an early rise of animals.
- Nettersheim BJ Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany. benjamin.nettersheim@bgc-jena.mpg.de.
- Brocks JJ Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
- Schwelm A Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCentre Linnean Centre for Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
- Hope JM Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
- Not F Adaptation and Diversity in Marine Environment (AD2M), Laboratory Ecology of Marine Plankton team Station Biologique de Roscoff, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR7144, Roscoff, France.
- Lomas M Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, USA.
- Schmidt C MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
- Schiebel R Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany.
- Nowack ECM Department of Biology, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany.
- De Deckker P Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
- Pawlowski J Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Bowser SS Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
- Bobrovskiy I Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
- Zonneveld K MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
- Kucera M MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
- Stuhr M Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Biogeochemistry and Geology, Bremen, Germany.
- Hallmann C Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany. challmann@bgc-jena.mpg.de.
- 2019-03-06
Published in:
- Nature ecology & evolution. - 2019
English
The dawn of animals remains one of the most mysterious milestones in the evolution of life. The fossil lipids 24-isopropylcholestane and 26-methylstigmastane are considered diagnostic for demosponges-arguably the oldest group of living animals. The widespread occurrence and high relative abundance of these biomarkers in Ediacaran sediments from 635-541 million years (Myr) ago have been viewed as evidence for the rise of animals to ecological importance approximately 100 Myr before their rapid Cambrian radiation. Here we show that the biosynthesis of 24-isopropylcholestane and 26-methylstigmastane precursors is common among early-branching unicellular Rhizaria-heterotrophic protists that play an important role in trophic cycling and carbon export in the modern ocean. Negating these hydrocarbons as sponge biomarkers, our study places the oldest evidence for animals closer to the Cambrian Explosion. Cambrian silica hexactine spicules that are approximately 535 Myr old now represent the oldest diagnostic sponge remains, whereas approximately 558-Myr-old Dickinsonia and Kimberella (Ediacara biota) provide the most reliable evidence for the emergence of animals. The proliferation of predatory protists may have been responsible for much of the ecological changes during the late Neoproterozoic, including the rise of algae, the establishment of complex trophic relationships and the oxygenation of shallow-water habitats required for the subsequent ascent of macroscopic animals.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1038/s41559-019-0806-5
- PMID 30833757
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/170504
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