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Science 13 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5430, pp. 1025 - 1026
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5430.1025
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Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

PALEONTOLOGY:
Enhanced: A New Molecular Window on Early Life

Andrew H. Knoll

In recent years, the boundary between the Archean and the Proterozoic--2500 million years ago--has been the boundary between a relatively well-studied biology preserved in fossils and a shadowland for paleobiological evidence for life on Earth. Brocks et al. now extend the chemical evidence for biomolecules from the previous 1700 million years to 2700 million years, by identifying biomarkers characteristic for cyanobacteria and eukaryotes in Archean rocks from rocks from Western Australia. The results show that a key attribute of eukaryotic physiology had already evolved 2700 million years ago.

The author is at the Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail: aknoll{at}oeb.harvard.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A new window into Early Archean life: Microbial mats in Earth's oldest siliciclastic tidal deposits (3.2 Ga Moodies Group, South Africa).
N. Noffke, K. A. Eriksson, R. M. Hazen, and E. L. Simpson (2006)
Geology 34, 253-256
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Femtomolar Sensitivity of a NO Sensor from Clostridium botulinum.
P. Nioche, V. Berka, J. Vipond, N. Minton, A.-L. Tsai, and C. S. Raman (2004)
Science 306, 1550-1553
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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
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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 »
Cellulose in Cyanobacteria. Origin of Vascular Plant Cellulose Synthase?.
D. R. Nobles, D. K. Romanovicz, and R. M. Brown Jr. (2001)
Plant Physiology 127, 529-542
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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