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Science 18 July 1980:
Vol. 209. no. 4454, pp. 396 - 397
DOI: 10.1126/science.209.4454.396
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Articles

Evidence for Lignin-Like Constituents in Early Silurian (Llandoverian) Plant Fossils

KARL J. NIKLAS 1 and LISA M. PRATT 2

1 Division of Biological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
2 Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Chemical evidence is presented with previously reported morphological features for banded-tube cell types in the earliest known plant fossils associated with stream-deposited sediments. Phenolic aldehydes (p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillin) and aromatic compounds from pyrolysis (2-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, methylsyringaldehyde) derived from cellular remains are interpreted as evidence for lignin or lignin-like degradation products. The presence of parallel-aligned banded tubes, with annular to spiral thickenings and occasional end walls, in conjunction with lignin-like constituents fulfill most of the morphological and chemical criteria for cell types that could have functioned as water-conducting cells.

Submitted on February 1, 1980
Revised on March 31, 1980


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
ULTRASTRUCTURE OF ENIGMATIC PHYTOCLASTS (BANDED TUBES) FROM THE SILURIAN-LOWER DEVONIAN: EVIDENCE FOR AFFINITIES AND ROLE IN EARLY TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS.
W. A. TAYLOR and C. H. WELLMAN (2009)
Palaios 24, 167-180
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Miospores and Cryptospores from the Silurian Section at Allenport, Pennsylvania, USA.
J. H. Beck and P. K. Strother (2008)
Journal of Paleontology 82, 857-883
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Wetlands before tracheophytes: Thalloid terrestrial communities of the Early Silurian Passage Creek biota (Virginia).
A. M. F. Tomescu and G. W. Rothwell (2006)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 399, 41-56
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Organic chemical differentiation within fossil plant cell walls detected with X-ray spectromicroscopy.
C. K. Boyce, G. D. Cody, M. Feser, C. Jacobsen, A. H. Knoll, and S. Wirick (2002)
Geology 30, 1039-1042
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Lignin-Like Compounds and Sporopollenin Coleochaete, an Algal Model for Land Plant Ancestry.
C. F. Delwiche, C. F. DELWICHE, L. E. GRAHAM, and N. THOMSON (1989)
Science 245, 399-401
   Abstract »    PDF »
Pollen and Lignin Records of Late Quaternary Vegetation, Lake Washington.
E. B. Leopold, E. B. LEOPOLD, R. NICKMANN, J. I. HEDGES, and J. R. ERTEL (1982)
Science 218, 1305-1307
   Abstract »    PDF »


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