Fossils and astrobiology: New protocols for cell evolution in deep time

International Journal of Astrobiology

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 217-228

  Brasier, Martin D ^a   Wacey, David ^b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

^c Curtain University   (Australia)

Author keywords

Biogenicity; Cells; Early life on Earth; Exobiology; Fossil record; Geological record.

Indexed keywords

CHERT; DATA SET; EXOBIOLOGY; FOSSIL RECORD; GEOLOGICAL RECORD; METABOLISM; SANDSTONE; TORRIDONIAN;

AUSTRALIA; CANADA; SCOTLAND; UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 84869848563     PISSN: 14735504     EISSN: 14753006     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1473550412000298     Document Type: Article

References (100)

1. Allison, P.A. & Bottjer, D. (eds) (2011). Taphonomy: Process and Bias through Time, 2nd edn, p. 599. Springer, Dordrecht.
2. Allwood, A.C., Walter, M.R., Kamber, B.S., Marshal, C.P. & Burch, I.W. (2006). Stromatolite reef from the Early Archean era of Australia. Nature 441, 714-718.
3. Anbar, A.D. (2004). Iron stable isotopes: beyond biosignatures. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 217, 223-236.
4. Antcliffe, J.B. & McLoughlin, N. (2009). Deciphering Fossil Evidence for the origins of life and the origins of animals: common challenges in different worlds. In From Fossils to Astrobiology. Records of Life on Earth and the Search for Extraterrestrial Biosignatures, ed. Seckbach, J. & Walsh, M., pp. 211-232. Springer, Dordrecht.
5. Archer, C. & Vance, D. (2006). Coupled Fe and S isotope evidence for Archean microbial Fe(III) and sulfate reduction. Geology 34, 153-156.
6. Armstrong, H.A. & Brasier, M.D. (2004). Microfossils, 2nd edn, p. 304. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
7. Awramik, S., Schopf, J. & Walter, M. (1983). Filamentous fossil bacteria from the Archean of Western Australia. Precambrian Res. 20, 357-374.
8. Bak, P. (1997). How nature works. The Science of Self-organized Criticality, p. 212. Oxford University Press, New York.
9. Ball, P. (1999). The self-made tapestry. Pattern Formation in Nature, p. 287. Oxford University Press, New York.
10. Ball, P. (2009). Branches. Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts, p. 221. Oxford University Press, New York.
11. Bailey, J.V., Raub, T.D., Meckler, A.N., Harrison, B.K., Rauub, T.M.D., Green, A.M. & Orphan, V.J. (2010). Pseudofossils in relict methane seep carbonates resemble endemic microbial consortia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 285, 131-142.
12. Barghoorn, E.S. & Tyler, S.A. (1965). Microorganisms from the Gunflint Chert. Science 147, 563-577.
13. Brasier, A.T. (2011). Searching for travertines, calcretes and speleothems in deep time: processes, appearances, predictions and the impact of plants. Earth Sci. Rev. 104, 213-239.
14. Brasier, M.D. (1980). Microfossils, p. 193. Unwin Hyman, London.
15. Brasier, M.D. (2009). Darwin's Lost World. The Hidden History of Animal Life, p. 304. Oxford University Press, New York.
16. Brasier, M.D. (2010). Towards a null hypothesis for stromatolites. In Earliest Life on Earth. Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection, ed. Golding, S.D. & Glikson, M., pp. 115-125. Springer, Dordrecht.
17. Brasier, M.D. (2012). Secret Chambers: The Inside Story of Cells and Complex Life, p. 256. Oxford University Press, New York.
18. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Jephcoat, A.P., Kleppe, A.K., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Lindsay, J.F., Steele, A., Grassineau, N.V. (2002). Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils. Nature 416, 76-81.
19. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R. & Mcloughlin, N. (2004). Characterization and critical testing of potential microfossils from the early Earth: the Apex 'microfossil debate' and its lessons for Mars sample return. Int. J. Astrobiol. 3, 1-12.
20. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Lindsay, J.F., McLoughlin, N., Steele, A. & Stoakes, C. (2005). Critical testing of Earth's oldest putative fossil assemblage from the *3.5 Ga Apex Chert, Chinaman Creek Western Australia. Precambrian Res. 140, 55-102.
21. Brasier, M.D., McLoughlin, N., Green, O.R. & Wacey, D. (2006). A fresh look at the fossil evidence for early Archaean cellular life. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 361, 887-902.
22. Brasier, M.D., Callow, R.H.T., Menon, L. & Liu, A. (2010). Osmotrophic biofilms: from modern to ancient. In MicrobialMats. Modern and Ancient Microorganisms in Stratified Systems, ed. Seckbach, J.&Oren, A., pp. 131- 148. Springer, Dordrecht.
23. Brasier, M.D., Wacey, D. & McLoughlin, N. (2011a). Taphonomy in temporally unique settings: a traverse in search of the earliest life on Earth. In Taphonomy: Process and Bias Through Time, Topics in Geobiology 32, ed. Allison, P.A. & Bottjer, D.J., pp. 487-518. Springer, Dordrecht.
24. Brasier, M.D., Matthewman, R., McMahon, S. & Wacey, D. (2011b). Pumice as a remarkable substrate for the origin of life. Astrobiology 11, 725-735.
25. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Lindsay, J.F., McLoughlin, N., Stoakes, C., Brasier, A. & Wacey, D. (2011c). Geology and putative microfossil assemblage of the c. 3460 Ma 'Apex Chert', Chinaman Creek, Western Australia - a field and petrographic guide. Geological Survey of Western Australia, Record 2011/7, 60.
26. Buick, R., Thornett, J.R., McNaughton, N.J., Smith, J.B., Barley, M.E. & Savage, M. (1995). Record of emergent continental crust *3.5 billion years ago in the Pilbara craton of Australia. Nature 375, 574-577.
27. Callow, R.H.T., Battison, L. & Brasier, M.D. (2011). Diverse microbially induced sedimentary structures from 1Ga lakes of the Diabaig Formation, northwest Scotland. Sediment. Geol. 239, 117-128.
28. Corsetti, F.A. & Storrie-Lombardie, M.C. (2003). Lossless compression of stromatolite images: a biogenicity index. Astrobiology 3, 649-655.
29. Darwin, C. (1871).On the Origin of Species, 1871 edn. John Murray, London.
30. Deamer, D., Dworkin, J.P., Sandford, S.A., Bernstein, M.P. & Allamandola, L.J. (2002). The first cell membranes. Astrobiology 2, 371-381.
31. De Gregorio, B.T. & Sharp, T.G. (2006). The structure and distribution of carbon in 3.5 Ga Apex chert: implications for the biogenicity of Earth's oldest putative microfossils. Am. Mineral.t 91, 784-789.
32. Dick, S.J. & Strick, J.E. (2005). The Living Universe. NASA and the Development of Astrobiology, p. 308. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
33. Donoghue, P.C.J., Bengtson, S., Dong, X., Gostling, N.J., Huldtgren, T., Cunningham, J.A., Yin, C., Yue, Z., Peng, F. & Stampanoni, M. (2006). Synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy of fossil embryos. Nature 442, 680-683.
34. Doolittle, W.F. (2000). Uprooting the tree of life. Sci. Am. 282, 90-95.
35. 3, 2, 2000GC000150.
36. Furnes, H., Banerjee, N.R., Staudigel, H., Muehlenbachs, K., McLoughlin, N., de Wit, M. & Van Kranendonk, M. (2007). Comparing petrographic signatures of bioalteration in recent to Mesoarchean pillow lavas: tracing subsurface life in oceanic igneous rocks. Precambrian Res. 158, 156-176.
37. Garcia-Ruiz, J.M., Hyde, S.T., Carnerup, A.M., Christy, A.G., Van Kranendonk, M.J. & Welham, N.J. (2003). Self assembled silicacarbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils. Science 302, 1194-1197.
38. Gilmour, I. (2003). Understanding Mars, p. 167. The Open University, Milton Keynes.
39. Hardin, J., Bertoni, G. & Kleinsmith, L.J. (2011). Becker's World of the Cell, 8th edn, p. 793. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, Boston, USA.
40. Hofmann, H.J. (1971). Precambrian fossils, pseudofossils and problematica in Canada. Bull. Geol. Surv. Canada 189, 146.
41. Hopkinson, L., Roberts, S., Herrington, R. & Wilkinson, J. (1998). Selforganization of submarine hydrothermal siliceous deposits: evidence from the TAG hydrothermal mound, 26°N Mid Atlantic Ridge. Geology 26, 347-350.
42. Hoover, R. (2011). Fossils of cyanobacteria in CI1 carbonaceous meteorites; and commentary No 9, by martin brasier life in C11 carbonaceous chondrites? J. Cosmol. 13, http://journalofcosmology.com/Life100.html
43. House, C.H., Schopf, J.W., McKeegan, K.D., Coath, C.D., Harrison, T.M. & Stetter, K.O. (2000). Carbon isotopic composition of individual Precambrian microfossils. Geology 28, 707-710.
44. Jannasch, H.W. & Mottl, M.J. (1985). Geomicrobiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Science 229, 717-725.
45. Javaux, E., Marshall, C.P. & Bekker, A. (2010). Organic-walled microfossils in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits. Nature 463, 934-939.
46. Kempe, A., Wirth, R., Altermann, W., Stark, R.W., Schopf, J.W. & Heckl, W.M. (2005). Focussed ion beam preparation and in situ nanoscopic study of Precambrian acritarchs. Precambrian Res. 140, 36-54.
47. Kilburn, M.R. & Wacey, D. (2011). Elemental and isotopic analysis by NanoSIMS: insights for the study of stromatolites and early life on Earth. In Stromatolites: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, ed. Seckbach, J. & Tewari, V. pp. 463-493. Springer.
48. Knoll, A.H. (2003). Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth, p. 277. Princeton University Press.
49. Knoll, A.H., Canfield, D.E. & Konhauser, K.O. (eds) (2012). Fundamentals of Geobiology, p. 456. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester.
50. Konhauser, K. (2007). Introduction to Geomicrobiology, p. 423. Blackwell, Oxford.
51. Krumbein, W., Paterson, D.M. & Zavarzin, G.A. (eds) (2003). Fossil and Recent Biofilms: A Natural History of Life on Earth, p. 482. Kluwer, Dordrecht.
52. Lemelle, L., Labrot, P., Salome, M., Simionovici, A., Viso,M. & Westall, F. (2008). In situ imaging of organic sulfur in 700-800 My-old Neoproterozoic microfossils using X-ray spectromicroscopy at the S K-edge. Org. Geochem. 39, 188-202.
53. Lepot, K., Benzerara, K., Brown, G.E. Jr.&Philippot, P. (2008). Microbially influenced formation of 2724-million-year-old stromatolites. Nature Geosci. 1, 118-121.
54. Martin, W. & Russell, M.J. (2007). On the origin of biochemistry at an alkaline hydrothermal vent. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 362, 1887-1926.
55. Marshall, C.P., Emry, J.R. & Olcott Marshall, A. (2011). Haematite pseudomicrofossils present in the 3.5-billion-year-old Apex Chert. Nature Geosci. 4, 240-243.
56. McKay, D., Gibson, E.K. Jr, Thomas-Keprta, K.L., Vali, H., Romanek, C. S., Clemett, S.J., Chillier, X.D.F., Maechling, C.R. & Zare, R.N. (1996). Search for past life on Mars: possible relic biogenic activity in Martian meteorite ALH84001. Science 273, 924-930.
57. McLoughlin, N., Brasier, M.D., Wacey, D., Green, O.R. & Perry, R. (2007). On biogenicity criteria for endolithic microborings on early Earth and beyond. Astrobiology 7, 10-26.
58. McLoughlin, N., Wilson, L.A. & Brasier, M.D. (2008). Growth of synthetic stromatolites and wrinkle structures in the absence of microbes: implications for the early fossil record. Geobiology 6, 95-105.
59. Mulkidjanian, A.Y., Bychkov, A.Yu., Dibrova, D.V., Galperin, M.Y. & Koonin, E.V. (2012). Origin of first cells at terrestrial anoxic geothermal fields. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, E821-830.
60. Noffke, N. (2010). Geobiology: Microbial Mats in Sandy Deposits from the Archean Era to Today, p. 194. Springer, Dordrecht.
61. Noffke, N., Eriksson, K.A., Hazen, R.M. & Simpson, E.L. (2006). A new window into early Archean life: microbial mats in Earth's oldest siliciclastic tidal deposits (3.2 Ga Moodies group, South Africa). Geology 34, 253-256.
62. Oehler, D.Z., Robert, F., Mostefaoui, S., Meibom, A., Selo, M. & McKay, D.S. (2006). Chemical mapping of Proterozoic organic matter at submicron spatial resolution. Astrobiology 6, 838-850.
63. Oehler, D.Z., Robert, F., Walter, M.R., Sugitani, K., Allwood, A., Meibom, A., Mostefaoui, S., Selo, M., Thomen, A. & Gibson, E.K. (2009). NanoSIMS: insights to biogenicity and syngeneity of Archaean carbonaceous structures. Precambrian Res. 173, 70-78.
64. Oehler, D.Z., Robert, F., Walter, M.R., Sugitani, K., Meibom, M., Mostefaoui, S. & Gibson, E.K. (2010). Diversity in the Archean biosphere: new insights from NanoSIMS. Astrobiology 10, 413-424.
65. Olcott Marshall, A., Emry, J.R. & Marshall, C.P. (2012). Multiple generations of carbon in the Apex Chert and implications for preservation of microfossils. Astrobiology 12, 160-166.
66. Orphan, V.J. & House, C.H. (2009). Geobiological investigations using secondary ion mass spectrometry: microanalysis of extant and paleomicrobial processes. Geobiology 7, 360-372.
67. Pasteris, J.D., Wopenka, B. (2003). Necessary, but not sufficient: Raman identification of disordered carbon as a signature of ancient life. Astrobiology 3, 727-738.
68. Perry, R.S. et al. (2007). Defining biominerals and organominerals: direct and indirect indicators of life. Sed. Geol. 201, 157-179.
69. Philippot, P., van Zuilen, M., Thomazo, C., Farquhar, J. & Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2007). Early Archaean microorganisms preferred elemental sulfur, not sulfate. Science 317, 1534-1537.
70. Pinti, D.L., Mineau, R. & Clement, V. (2009). Hydrothermal alteration and microfossil artefacts of the 3465-million-year-old Apex chert. Nature Geosci. 2, 640-643.
71. Reitner, J., Queric, N-V. & Arp, G. (eds) (2011). Advances in Stromatolite Geobiology, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, p. 559. Springer, Dordrecht.
72. Rickards, D. (2012). Sedimentary Sulfides. Elsevier, Amsterdam (In press).
73. Riding, R. (2011). The nature of stromatolites: 3500 million years of history and a century of research. In Advances in Stromatolite Geobiology, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, ed. Reitner, J., Queric, N-V. & Arp, G., pp. 29-74. Springer, Dordrecht.
74. Rose, E., McLoughlin, N. & Brasier, M.D. (2006). Ground truth: the epistemology of searching for the earliest life on Earth. In Life As We Know It. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, ed. Seckbach, J., Vol. 10, pp. 259-286. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
75. Schopf, J.W. (1993). Microfossils of the Early Archaean Apex Chert: new evidence for the antiquity of life. Science 260, 640-646.
76. Schopf, J.W. (1999). The Cradle of Life, p. 367. Princeton University Press, New York.
77. Schopf, J.W. & Kudryavtsev, A.B. (2005). Three-dimensional Raman imagery of Precambrian microscopic organisms. Geobiol. 3, 1-12.
78. Schopf, J.W. & Kudryavtsev, A.B. (2009). Confocal laser scanning microscopy and Raman imaging of ancient microscopic fossils. Precambrian Res. 173, 39-49.
79. Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev, A.B., Agresti, D.G., Wdowiak, T.J. & Czaja, A. D. (2002). Laser-Raman imagery of Earth's earliest fossils. Nature 416, 73-76.
80. Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev, A.B., Agresti, D.G., Czaja, A.D. & Wdowiak, T. J. (2005). Raman imagery: a new approach to assess the geochemical maturity and biogenicity of permineralized Precambrian fossils. Astrobiology 5, 333-371.
81. Schopf, J.W., Kudyatsev, A.B., Sugitani, K. & Walter, M.R. (2010). Precambrian microbe-like pseudofossils: a promising solution to the problem. Precambrian Res. 179, 191-205.
82. Seckbach, J. & Oren, A. (eds) (2010). Microbial Mats. Modern and Ancient Microorganisms in Stratified Systems, p. 606. Springer, Dordrecht.
83. Strother, P.K., Battison, L., Brasier,M.D. & Wellman, C.H. (2011). Earth's earliest non-marine eukaryotes. Nature 473, 505-509.
84. Templeton, A. & Knowles, E. (2009). Microbial transformations of minerals and metals: recent advances in geomicrobiology derived from synchrotronbased X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray microscopy. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 37, 367-391.
85. Tyler, S.A. & Barghoorn, E.S. (1954). Occurrence of structurally preserved plants in Pre-Cambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield. Science 119, 606- 608.
86. Tyler, S.A. & Barghoorn, E.S. (1963). Ambient pyrite grains in Precambrian cherts. Am. J. Sci. 261, 424-432.
87. Ueno, Y., Isozaki, Y., Yurimoto, H. & Maruyama, S. (2001). Carbon isotopic signatures of individual Archean microfossils(?) from Western Australia. Int. Geol. Rev. 43, 196-212.
88. van Zuilen, M.A., Mathew, K., Wopenka, B., Lepland, A., Marti, K. & Arrhenius, G. (2005). Nitrogen and argon isotopic signatures in graphite from the 3.8-Ga-old Isua Supracrustal Belt, Southern West Greenland. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 1241-1252.
89. Varnam, A.H. & Evans, M.G. (2000). Environmental Microbiology, p. 160. Manson Publishing, London.
90. Wacey, D. (2009). Early Life on Earth: A practical Guide, p. 285. Springer, Amsterdam.
91. Wacey, D., McLoughlin, N., Green, O.R., Parnell, J., Stoakes, C.A. & Brasier, M.D. (2006). The *3.4 billion year old Strelley Pool Sandstone: a new window into early life on Earth. Int. J. Astrobiol. 5, 333-342.
92. Wacey, D., Kilburn, M.R., McLoughlin, N., Parnell, J., Stoakes, C.A. & Brasier, M.D. (2008). Using NanoSIMS in the search for early life on Earth: ambient inclusion trails in a c.3400 Ma sandstone. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 165, 43-53.
93. Wacey, D., McLoughlin, N., Whitehouse, M. & Kilburn, M.R. (2010a). Two co-existing sulfur metabolisms in a *3430 Ma sandstone. Geology 38, 1115-1118.
94. Wacey, D., McLoughlin, N., Stoakes, C.A., Kilburn, M.R., Green, O.R. & Brasier, M.D. (2010b). The 3426-3350 Ma Strelley Pool Formation in the East Strelley Greenstone Belt - A Field and Petrographic Guide. Geological Survey of Western Australia Record 2010/10, Perth, p. 71.
95. Wacey, D., Saunders, M., Brasier, M.D. & Kilburn, M.R. (2011a). Earliest microbially-mediated pyrite oxidation in *3.4 billion-year-old sediments. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 301, 393-402.
96. Wacey, D., Kilburn, M., Saunders, M., Cliff, J. & Brasier, M.D. (2011b). Microfossils of sulphur-metabolizing cells in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks of Western Australia. Nature Geosci. 4, 698-702.
97. Wacey, D., Menon, S., Green, L., Gerstmann, D., Kong, C., McLoughlin, N., Saunders, M. & Brasier, M.D. (2012). Taphonomy of microfossils from the *3400 Ma Strelley Pool Formation and*1900 Ma Gunflint Formation: new insights using focused ion beam. Precambrian Res. (in press).
98. Walter, M.R. (1976). Stromatolites, p. 790. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
99. Walter, M.R. (1999). The Search for Life on Mars, p. 170. Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA.
100. Williams, D.B. & Carter, C.B. (2009). Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science, 2nd edn, p. 832. Springer Science and Business Media, New York.