A battle against arsenic toxicity by Earth’s earliest complex life forms

Anna El Khoury, Andrea Somogyi, Ernest Chi Fru, Farid Saleh (), Ibtissam Chraiki, Claude Fontaine, Jérémie Aubineau, Claire Rollion-Bard, Mathias Harzhauser and Abderrazak El Albani ()
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Anna El Khoury: CNRS
Andrea Somogyi: Synchrotron SOLEIL
Ernest Chi Fru: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences
Farid Saleh: Géopolis
Ibtissam Chraiki: CNRS
Claude Fontaine: CNRS
Jérémie Aubineau: Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées
Claire Rollion-Bard: UVSQ
Mathias Harzhauser: Geological-Palaeontological Department
Abderrazak El Albani: CNRS

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The toxicity of arsenic has challenged life for billions of years, but the timing of when complex organisms first evolved strategies to cope with this threat remains elusive. Here, we study 2.1-billion-year-old (Ga) Francevillian macrofossils, some of Earth’s earliest complex life forms, to establish their biogenicity and to ascertain how they managed arsenic toxicity. The studied specimens thrived in low-arsenic marine waters, yet displayed strikingly high levels of arsenic, which was actively sequestered in specialized compartments in their bodies to mitigate toxicity. Upon their death, arsenic was released and incorporated into pyrite nuclei. The patterns observed in the fossils are distinct from abiotic concretions but similar to some seen in later eumetazoans, reinforcing their biological affinity. Our findings highlight that early complex life faced significant arsenic stress, even in low-concentration marine environments, which prompted the development of essential survival mechanisms.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59760-9

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