Life: the first two billion years
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Author(s)
Knoll, Andrew H.
Strauss, Justin V.
Bergmann, Kristin
Date Issued
September 2016
Journal
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Citation
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.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
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.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1098/RSTB.2015.0493
