Life: the first two billion years
Microfossils, stromatolites, preserved lipids and biologically informative isotopic ratios provide a substantial record of bacterial diversity and biogeochemical cycles in Proterozoic (2500-541 Ma) oceans that can be interpreted, at least broadly, in terms of present-day organisms and metabolic proc...
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| Format: | Article |
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The Royal Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118154 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6106-2059 |
| _version_ | 1811087539634700288 |
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| author | Knoll, Andrew H. Strauss, Justin V. Bergmann, Kristin |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Knoll, Andrew H. Strauss, Justin V. Bergmann, Kristin |
| author_sort | Knoll, Andrew H. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Microfossils, stromatolites, preserved lipids and biologically informative isotopic ratios provide a substantial record of bacterial diversity and biogeochemical cycles in Proterozoic (2500-541 Ma) oceans that can be interpreted, at least broadly, in terms of present-day organisms and metabolic processes. Archean (more than 2500 Ma) sedimentary rocks add at least a billion years to the recorded history of life, with sedimentological and biogeochemical evidence for life at 3500 Ma, and possibly earlier; phylogenetic and functional details, however, are limited. Geochemistry provides a major constraint on early evolution, indicating that the first bacteria were shaped by anoxic environments, with distinct patterns of major and micronutrient availability. Archean rocks appear to record the Earth’s first iron age, with reduced Fe as the principal electron donor for photosynthesis, oxidized Fe the most abundant terminal electron acceptor for respiration, and Fe a key cofactor in proteins. With the permanent oxygenation of the atmosphere and surface ocean ca 2400 Ma, photic zone O2 limited the access of photosynthetic bacteria to electron donors other thanwater,while expanding the inventory of oxidants available for respiration and chemoautotrophy. Thus, halfway through Earth history, the microbial underpinnings of modern marine ecosystems began to take shape. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:47:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/118154 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:47:42Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1181542022-10-01T17:12:52Z Life: the first two billion years Knoll, Andrew H. Strauss, Justin V. Bergmann, Kristin Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Bergmann, Kristin Microfossils, stromatolites, preserved lipids and biologically informative isotopic ratios provide a substantial record of bacterial diversity and biogeochemical cycles in Proterozoic (2500-541 Ma) oceans that can be interpreted, at least broadly, in terms of present-day organisms and metabolic processes. Archean (more than 2500 Ma) sedimentary rocks add at least a billion years to the recorded history of life, with sedimentological and biogeochemical evidence for life at 3500 Ma, and possibly earlier; phylogenetic and functional details, however, are limited. Geochemistry provides a major constraint on early evolution, indicating that the first bacteria were shaped by anoxic environments, with distinct patterns of major and micronutrient availability. Archean rocks appear to record the Earth’s first iron age, with reduced Fe as the principal electron donor for photosynthesis, oxidized Fe the most abundant terminal electron acceptor for respiration, and Fe a key cofactor in proteins. With the permanent oxygenation of the atmosphere and surface ocean ca 2400 Ma, photic zone O2 limited the access of photosynthetic bacteria to electron donors other thanwater,while expanding the inventory of oxidants available for respiration and chemoautotrophy. Thus, halfway through Earth history, the microbial underpinnings of modern marine ecosystems began to take shape. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University (Junior Fellowship) 2018-09-19T14:52:45Z 2018-09-19T14:52:45Z 2016-09 2018-09-19T14:00:05Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0962-8436 1471-2970 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118154 Knoll, Andrew H., et al. “Life: The First Two Billion Years.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 371, no. 1707, Nov. 2016, p. 20150493. © 2016 The Authors. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6106-2059 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/RSTB.2015.0493 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf The Royal Society Other repository |
| spellingShingle | Knoll, Andrew H. Strauss, Justin V. Bergmann, Kristin Life: the first two billion years |
| title | Life: the first two billion years |
| title_full | Life: the first two billion years |
| title_fullStr | Life: the first two billion years |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life: the first two billion years |
| title_short | Life: the first two billion years |
| title_sort | life the first two billion years |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118154 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6106-2059 |
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