IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v412y2001i6842d10.1038_35083562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuelle J. Javaux

    (Botanical Museum, Harvard University)

  • Andrew H. Knoll

    (Botanical Museum, Harvard University)

  • Malcolm R. Walter

    (Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University)

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 Archaea1; 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 split2,3. Steranes, large spheroidal microfossils, and rare macrofossils of possible eukaryotic origin occur in Palaeoproterozoic rocks4,5,6. Until now, however, evidence for morphological and taxonomic diversification within the domain has generally been restricted to very late Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic successions7. 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle J. Javaux & Andrew H. Knoll & Malcolm R. Walter, 2001. "Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 412(6842), pages 66-69, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:412:y:2001:i:6842:d:10.1038_35083562
    DOI: 10.1038/35083562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/35083562
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/35083562?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:412:y:2001:i:6842:d:10.1038_35083562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.