Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 13 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5430, pp. 1033 - 1036
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5430.1033
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Archean Molecular Fossils and the Early Rise of Eukaryotes

Jochen J. Brocks, 12* Graham A. Logan, 2 Roger Buick, 1 Roger E. Summons 2

Molecular fossils of biological lipids are preserved in 2700-million-year-old shales from the Pilbara Craton, Australia. Sequential extraction of adjacent samples shows that these hydrocarbon biomarkers are indigenous and syngenetic to the Archean shales, greatly extending the known geological range of such molecules. The presence of abundant 2alpha -methylhopanes, which are characteristic of cyanobacteria, indicates that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved well before the atmosphere became oxidizing. The presence of steranes, particularly cholestane and its 28- to 30-carbon analogs, provides persuasive evidence for the existence of eukaryotes 500 million to 1 billion years before the extant fossil record indicates that the lineage arose.

1 School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
2 Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jochen.brocks{at}agso.gov.au or brocks{at}es.su.oz.au

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A biomarker based on the stable isotopes of nickel.
V. Cameron, D. Vance, C. Archer, and C. H. House (2009)
PNAS 106, 10944-10948
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Reconstructing Earth's surface oxidation across the Archean-Proterozoic transition.
Q. Guo, H. Strauss, A. J. Kaufman, S. Schroder, J. Gutzmer, B. Wing, M. A. Baker, A. Bekker, Q. Jin, S.-T. Kim, et al. (2009)
Geology 37, 399-402
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Oxygen in the Evolution of Complex Life and the Price We Pay.
V. J. Thannickal (2009)
Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 40, 507-510
   Full Text »    PDF »
Two-phase increase in the maximum size of life over 3.5 billion years reflects biological innovation and environmental opportunity.
J. L. Payne, A. G. Boyer, J. H. Brown, S. Finnegan, M. Kowalewski, R. A. Krause Jr., S. K. Lyons, C. R. McClain, D. W. McShea, P. M. Novack-Gottshall, et al. (2009)
PNAS 106, 24-27
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mineral evolution.
R. M. Hazen, D. Papineau, W. Bleeker, R. T. Downs, J. M. Ferry, T. J. McCoy, D. A. Sverjensky, and H. Yang (2008)
American Mineralogist 93, 1693-1720
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Intraphylum Diversity and Complex Evolution of Cyanobacterial Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases.
I. Luque, M. L. Riera-Alberola, A. Andujar, and J. A. G. Ochoa de Alda (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 2369-2389
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Phylogenetic Characterization of Two Novel Commensal Bacteria Involved with Innate Immune Homeostasis in Drosophila melanogaster.
S. W. Roh, Y.-D. Nam, H.-W. Chang, K.-H. Kim, M.-S. Kim, J.-H. Ryu, S.-H. Kim, W.-J. Lee, and J.-W. Bae (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 6171-6177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Electrons, life and the evolution of Earth's oxygen cycle.
P. G Falkowski and L. V Godfrey (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2705-2716
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
When did oxygenic photosynthesis evolve?.
R. Buick (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2731-2743
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeoproterozoic ice houses and the evolution of oxygen-mediating enzymes: the case for a late origin of photosystem II.
J. L Kirschvink and R. E Kopp (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2755-2765
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The evolution of photosynthesis...again?.
L. J Rothschild (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2787-2801
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Arsenic(III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California.
T. R. Kulp, S. E. Hoeft, M. Asao, M. T. Madigan, J. T. Hollibaugh, J. C. Fisher, J. F. Stolz, C. W. Culbertson, L. G. Miller, and R. S. Oremland (2008)
Science 321, 967-970
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A polycyclic terpenoid that alleviates oxidative stress.
T. Bosak, R. M. Losick, and A. Pearson (2008)
PNAS 105, 6725-6729
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Experimental Precipitation of Barite (BaSO4) Among Streamers of Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria.
S. M. Bonny and B. Jones (2008)
Journal of Sedimentary Research 78, 357-365
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Eukaryote-Dominated Biofilms in Extreme Environments: Overlooked Sources of Information in the Geologic Record.
S. S. Brake and S. T. Hasiotis (2008)
Palaios 23, 121-123
   Full Text »    PDF »
Differential Role of NADP+ and NADPH in the Activity and Structure of GDP-D-mannose 4,6-Dehydratase from Two Chlorella Viruses.
F. Fruscione, L. Sturla, G. Duncan, J. L. Van Etten, P. Valbuzzi, A. De Flora, E. Di Zanni, and M. Tonetti (2008)
J. Biol. Chem. 283, 184-193
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence of vanished evaporites in Neoarchaean carbonates of South Africa.
A. Gandin and D. T. Wright (2007)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 285, 285-308
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Archean rise of aerobic microbial ecosystems.
J. L. Eigenbrode and K. H. Freeman (2006)
PNAS 103, 15759-15764
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A molecular time-scale for eukaryote evolution recalibrated with the continuous microfossil record.
C. Berney and J. Pawlowski (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 1867-1872
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeoclimates: the first two billion years.
J. F Kasting and S. Ono (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 917-929
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen.
R. E Summons, A. S Bradley, L. L Jahnke, and J. R Waldbauer (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 951-968
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cell evolution and Earth history: stasis and revolution.
T. Cavalier-Smith (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 969-1006
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The origin and evolution of Archaea: a state of the art.
S. Gribaldo and C. Brochier-Armanet (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1007-1022
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans.
A.H Knoll, E.J Javaux, D Hewitt, and P Cohen (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1023-1038
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The origin and diversification of eukaryotes: problems with molecular phylogenetics and molecular clock estimation.
A. J Roger and L. A Hug (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1039-1054
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biomarkers from Huronian oil-bearing fluid inclusions: An uncontaminated record of life before the Great Oxidation Event.
A. Dutkiewicz, H. Volk, S. C. George, J. Ridley, and R. Buick (2006)
Geology 34, 437-440
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Early evolution of atmospheric oxygen from multiple-sulfur and carbon isotope records of the 2.9 Ga Mozaan Group of the Pongola Supergroup, Southern Africa.
S. Ono, N. J. Beukes, D. Rumble, and M. L. Fogel (2006)
South African Journal of Geology 109, 97-108
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The effect of oxygen on biochemical networks and the evolution of complex life..
J. Raymond and D. Segre (2006)
Science 311, 1764-1767
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Precambrian Oxygenation; Inception of the Clay Mineral Factory.
M. Kennedy, M. Droser, L. M. Mayer, D. Pevear, and D. Mrofka (2006)
Science 311, 1446-1449
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Chemical and biological evolution of early Earth: Constraints from banded iron formations.
H. Ohmoto, Y. Watanabe, K. E. Yamaguchi, H. Naraoka, M. Haruna, T. Kakegawa, K.-i. Hayashi, and Y. Kato (2006)
Geological Society of America Memoirs 198, 291-331
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Middle Archean volcano-hydrothermal sequence: Bacterial microfossil-bearing 3.2 Ga Dixon Island Formation, coastal Pilbara terrane, Australia.
S. Kiyokawa, T. Ito, M. Ikehara, and F. Kitajima (2006)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 118, 3-22
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
U-Pb zircon age constraints on the Hamersley spherule beds: Evidence for a single 2.63 Ga Jeerinah-Carawine impact ejecta layer.
B. Rasmussen, T. S. Blake, and I. R. Fletcher (2005)
Geology 33, 725-728
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Carbon-Concentrating Mechanism of the Hydrothermal Vent Chemolithoautotroph Thiomicrospira crunogena.
K. P. Dobrinski, D. L. Longo, and K. M. Scott (2005)
J. Bacteriol. 187, 5761-5766
   Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for pervasive petroleum generation and migration in 3.2 and 2.63 Ga shales.
B. Rasmussen (2005)
Geology 33, 497-500
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Iridium anomalies and shocked quartz in a Late Archean spherule layer from the Pilbara craton: New evidence for a major asteroid impact at 2.63 Ga.
B. Rasmussen and C. Koeberl (2004)
Geology 32, 1029-1032
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The timing of eukaryotic evolution: Does a relaxed molecular clock reconcile proteins and fossils?.
E. J. P. Douzery, E. A. Snell, E. Bapteste, F. Delsuc, and H. Philippe (2004)
PNAS 101, 15386-15391
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The effectiveness of the Paleoproterozoic biological pump: A {delta}13C gradient from platform carbonates of the Pethei Group (Great Slave Lake Supergroup, NWT).
R.M. Hotinski, L.R. Kump, and M.A. Arthur (2004)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, 539-554
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Phylogenetic and biochemical evidence for sterol synthesis in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus.
A. Pearson, M. Budin, and J. J. Brocks (2003)
PNAS 100, 15352-15357
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biomarkers, brines, and oil in the Mesoproterozoic, Roper Superbasin, Australia.
A. Dutkiewicz, H. Volk, J. Ridley, and S. George (2003)
Geology 31, 981-984
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Branched aliphatic alkanes with quaternary substituted carbon atoms in modern and ancient geologic samples.
F. Kenig, D.-J. H. Simons, D. Crich, J. P. Cowen, G. T. Ventura, T. Rehbein-Khalily, T. C. Brown, and K. B. Anderson (2003)
PNAS 100, 12554-12558
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Antiquity and Evolution of the MADS-Box Gene Family Controlling Flower Development in Plants.
J. Nam, C. W. dePamphilis, H. Ma, and M. Nei (2003)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 20, 1435-1447
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Earth's earliest microbial mats in a siliciclastic marine environment (2.9 Ga Mozaan Group, South Africa).
N. Noffke, R. Hazen, and N. Nhleko (2003)
Geology 31, 673-676
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Fungal Analog for Newfoundland Ediacaran Fossils?.
K. J. Peterson, B. Waggoner, and J. W. Hagadorn (2003)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 43, 127-136
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biomineralization and Evolutionary History.
A. H. Knoll and A. H. Knoll (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 54, 329-356
   Full Text »    PDF »
Could bacteria have formed the Precambrian banded iron formations?.
K. O. Konhauser, T. Hamade, R. Raiswell, R. C. Morris, F. G. Ferris, G. Southam, and D. E. Canfield (2002)
Geology 30, 1079-1082
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Whole-Genome Analysis of Photosynthetic Prokaryotes.
J. Raymond, O. Zhaxybayeva, J. P. Gogarten, S. Y. Gerdes, and R. E. Blankenship (2002)
Science 298, 1616-1620
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seaweeds in Cold Seas: Evolution and Carbon Acquisition.
J. A. RAVEN, A. M. JOHNSTON, J. E. KUBLER, R. KORB, S. G. MCINROY, L. L. HANDLEY, C. M. SCRIMGEOUR, D. I. WALKER, J. BEARDALL, M. N. CLAYTON, et al. (2002)
Ann. Bot. 90, 525-536
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Proterozoic Ocean Chemistry and Evolution: A Bioinorganic Bridge?.
A. D. Anbar and A. H. Knoll (2002)
Science 297, 1137-1142
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biology and Geology: A Necessary Symbiosis.
(2002)
Palaios 17, 307-308
Eukaryotic stromatolite builders in acid mine drainage: Implications for Precambrian iron formations and oxygenation of the atmosphere?.
S.S. Brake, S.T. Hasiotis, H.K. Dannelly, and K.A. Connors (2002)
Geology 30, 599-602
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comparison of the Small Molecule Metabolic Enzymes of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
O. Jardine, J. Gough, C. Chothia, and S. A. Teichmann (2002)
Genome Res. 12, 916-929
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Plants Compared to Animals: The Broadest Comparative Study of Development.
E. M. Meyerowitz (2002)
Science 295, 1482-1485
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A spliceosomal intron in Giardialamblia.
J. E. J. Nixon, A. Wang, H. G. Morrison, A. G. McArthur, M. L. Sogin, B. J. Loftus, and J. Samuelson (2002)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The enigma of the origin of life and its timing.
M. A. Line (2002)
Microbiology 148, 21-27
   Full Text »    PDF »
Fermor lecture: The influence of life on the face of the Earth: garnets and moving continents.
E. G. Nisbet (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 199, 275-307
   Abstract »    PDF »
Stable isotopes in the Archaean Belingwe belt, Zimbabwe: evidence for a diverse microbial mat ecology.
N. V. Grassineau, E. G. Nisbet, C. M. R. Fowler, M. J. Bickle, D. Lowry, H. J. Chapman, D. P. Mattey, P. Abell, J. Yong, and A. Martin (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 199, 309-328
   Abstract »    PDF »
Organic haze in Earth's early atmosphere: Source of low-13C Late Archean kerogens?.
A. A. Pavlov, J. F. Kasting, J. L. Eigenbrode, and K. H. Freeman (2001)
Geology 29, 1003-1006
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dating low-grade metamorphic events by SHRIMP U-Pb analysis of monazite in shales.
B. Rasmussen, I. R. Fletcher, and N. J. McNaughton (2001)
Geology 29, 963-966
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biogenic Methane, Hydrogen Escape, and the Irreversible Oxidation of Early Earth.
D. C. Catling, K. J. Zahnle, and C. McKay (2001)
Science 293, 839-843
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The hierarchical structure of organisms: a scale and documentation of a trend in the maximum.
(2001)
Paleobiology 27, 405-423
Commensal Host-Bacterial Relationships in the Gut.
L. V. Hooper and J. I. Gordon (2001)
Science 292, 1115-1118
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Chemostratigraphy of the Paleoproterozoic Duitschland Formation, South Africa: Implications for Coupled Climate Change and Carbon Cycling.
A. Bekker, A. J. Kaufman, J. A. Karhu, N. J. Beukes, Q. D. Swart, L. L. Coetzee, and K. A. Eriksson (2001)
Am J Sci 301, 261-285
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Isotopic Evolution of the Biogeochemical Carbon Cycle During the Precambrian.
D. J. Des Marais and D. J. Des Marais (2001)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43, 555-578
   Full Text »    PDF »
Structural requirements for substrate recognition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis 14{{alpha}}-demethylase: implications for sterol biosynthesis.
A. Bellamine, A. T. Mangla, A. L. Dennis, W. D. Nes, and M. R. Waterman (2001)
J. Lipid Res. 42, 128-136
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Time, life and the Earth.
A. Manning (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 190, 253-264
   Abstract »    PDF »
Isoprenoid biosynthesis: The evolution of two ancient and distinct pathways across genomes.
B. M. Lange, T. Rujan, W. Martin, and R. Croteau (2000)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Testate amoebae in the Neoproterozoic Era: evidence from vase-shaped microfossils in the Chuar Group, Grand Canyon.
(2000)
Paleobiology 26, 360-385
Bangiomorpha pubescens n. gen., n. sp.: implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of eukaryotes.
(2000)
Paleobiology 26, 386-404
Oily old ores: Evidence for hydrothermal petroleum generation in an Archean volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit.
B. Rasmussen and R. Buick (2000)
Geology 28, 731-734
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Archean Sulfur Cycle and the Early History of Atmospheric Oxygen.
D. E. Canfield, K. S. Habicht, and B. Thamdrup (2000)
Science 288, 658-661
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth: Extreme climatic and geochemical global change and its biological consequences.
J. L. Kirschvink, E. J. Gaidos, L. E. Bertani, N. J. Beukes, J. Gutzmer, L. N. Maepa, and R. E. Steinberger (2000)
PNAS 97, 1400-1405
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Isoprenoid biosynthesis: The evolution of two ancient and distinct pathways across genomes.
B. M. Lange, T. Rujan, W. Martin, and R. Croteau (2000)
PNAS 97, 13172-13177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)