In a discovery published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers led by David Gold of the University of California, Davis, deciphered hidden messages in ancient stones. Molecular fossils preserve traces of life dating back 1.6 billion years.
The key players in this prehistoric drama? Sterol lipids. Traces of these molecular legends provide clues about the life forms of a period when almost nothing remained.
The study points to major changes in the diet of early Earth creatures. Our ancient cousins may have moved from cooking their own meals to “ordering food” from the variety of algae that grew in ancient oceans. Most animals cannot produce phytosterols on their own, but they can obtain them by eating plants or fungi. It was recently discovered that annelids have the smt gene, which is required for the production of longer chain sterols. By examining smt genes in different animals, Gold and colleagues constructed a family tree of smt, first in annelids and then in animals in general.
They found that the gene appeared very early in the evolution of early animals and underwent rapid changes around the time phytosterols appeared in the rock record. Later, most animal species lost the smt gene.
“Our interpretation is that these molecular phytosterol fossils record the growth of algae in ancient oceans, and that animals abandoned phytosterol production when they could easily obtain it from this increasingly abundant food source,” Gold said.
Source: Ferra
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