Evidence of giant sulphur bacteria in Neoproterozoic phosphorites

Jake V. Bailey (), Samantha B. Joye, Karen M. Kalanetra, Beverly E. Flood and Frank A. Corsetti
Additional contact information
Jake V. Bailey: Department of Earth Sciences
Samantha B. Joye: University of Georgia
Karen M. Kalanetra: University of Georgia
Beverly E. Flood: University of Southern California
Frank A. Corsetti: Department of Earth Sciences

Nature, 2007, vol. 445, issue 7124, 198-201

Abstract: They might be giants The globular microfossils from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in China are arguably one of the most significant fossil finds in the past decade. They were thought to be animal embryos, based on size and the presence of reductive cell division. If the attribution is correct, 600-million-year-old fossilized cells would provide an important window into early animal evolution. But they may not be embryos at all. The recent discovery of reductive cell division in a modern sulphur bacterium, and their direct association with phosphate minerals, find exact parallels in with the Doushantuo microfossils. Such an accumulation of animal embryos has always been seen as problematic, and no plausible phosphatization mechanism has been offered. The simplest explanation, therefore, is that these are the fossils of giant sulphur bacteria.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05457

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