ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2008
Embryo fossilization is a biological process mediated by microbial biofilms.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbial dynamics and metabolic activity during fish decay under aerobic and anaerobic conditions: insights into microbial fossilization.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- The early CambrianProceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Biomolecules in Pleistocene fossils from tropical cave indicate fossil biofilm.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Decay experiments and microbial community analysis of water lily leaf biofilms: Sediment effects on leaf preservation potential.PloS one · 2024Article
- Time-dependent microbial shifts during crayfish decomposition in freshwater and sediment under different environmental conditions.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Microbially mediated fossil concretions and their characterization by the latest methodologies: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Taphonomic experiments imply a possible link between the evolution of multicellularity and the fossilization potential of soft-bodied organisms.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Nucleus preservation in early Ediacaran Weng'an embryo-like fossils, experimental taphonomy of nuclei and implications for reading the eukaryote fossil record.Interface focus · 2020Article
- The Effect Of microbial Mats In The Decay Of Anurans With Implications For Understanding Taphonomic Processes In The Fossil Record.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Involvement of microbial mats in early fossilization by decay delay and formation of impressions and replicas of vertebrates and invertebrates.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone.PloS one · 2016Article
- Article
- Experimental taphonomy of Artemia reveals the role of endogenous microbes in mediating decay and fossilization.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2015Article
- Mineralization of Alvinella polychaete tubes at hydrothermal vents.Geobiology · 2015Article
- Article
- A role for iron and oxygen chemistry in preserving soft tissues, cells and molecules from deep time.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2014Article
- Distinguishing geology from biology in the Ediacaran Doushantuo biota relaxes constraints on the timing of the origin of bilaterians.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- Experimental taphonomy of giant sulphur bacteria: implications for the interpretation of the embryo-like Ediacaran Doushantuo fossils.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- Tiny sea anemone from the Lower Cambrian of China.PloS one · 2010Article
- Influence of microbial biofilms on the preservation of primary soft tissue in fossil and extant archosaurs.PloS one · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fossilized embryos with extraordinary cellular preservation appear in the Late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian, coincident with the appearance of animal body fossils. It has been hypothesized that microbial processes are responsible for preservation and mineralization of organic tissues. However, the actions of microbes in preservation of embryos have not been demonstrated experimentally. Here, we show that bacterial biofilms assemble rapidly in dead marine embryos and form remarkable pseudomorphs in which the bacterial biofilm replaces and exquisitely models details of cellular organization and structure. The experimental model was the decay of cleavage stage embryos similar in size and morphology to fossil embryos. The data show that embryo preservation takes place in 3 distinct steps: (i) blockage of autolysis by reducing or anaerobic conditions, (ii) rapid formation of microbial biofilms that consume the embryo but form a replica that retains cell organization and morphology, and (iii) bacterially catalyzed mineralization. Major bacterial taxa in embryo decay biofilms were identified by using 16S rDNA sequencing. Decay processes were similar in different taphonomic conditions, but the composition of bacterial populations depended on specific conditions. Experimental taphonomy generates preservation states similar to those in fossil embryos. The data show how fossilization of soft tissues in sediments can be mediated by bacterial replacement and mineralization, providing a foundation for experimentally creating biofilms from defined microbial species to model fossilization as a biological process.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.