About a billion years ago, a group of previously unknown single-celled creatures roamed the Earth in great numbers. This is what an international research team writes in the journal Nature. The researchers discovered traces of certain molecules in rock that is up to 1.64 billion years old. These so-called protosteroids or primordial fats would come from early forms of eukaryotes.
Eukaryotes are living things with a complex cell structure and nucleus – in addition to a number of unicellular organisms, this includes all animals, plants and algae, but not bacteria. Modern eukaryotes commonly produce fatty structures called sterols, which include cholesterol in humans and many animals.
Evidence of protosteroids in rocks up to 1.6 billion years old
Therefore, when looking for early eukaryotes, researchers have so far focused on detecting these substances. However, such evidence only goes back about 800 million years, although there are older eukaryotes. It was concluded that eukaryotes were rather rare.
The research team, which includes Benjamin Nettersheim of the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen and Christian Hallmann of the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam, disagrees. They found evidence of protosteroids in rocks up to 1.64 billion years old in various parts of the world. The finds indicate that these previously unknown primeval eukaryotes were abundant in the water at the time.
“One of the most profound environmental turning points”
Their cell structure and probably also their metabolism were therefore adapted to a world that had much less oxygen in the atmosphere than now. However, what these organisms could have looked like is unclear – because the original eukaryotes disappeared until about 800 million years ago, while the modern eukaryotes appeared.
This was “one of the most profound ecological turning points in our planet’s history,” says Nettersheim.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
