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Science 13 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5430, pp. 1033 - 1036
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5430.1033
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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

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