ArticleNature2009
Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period.
Article in Nature, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 142 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
142 citing papers in PubMed, 717 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Low Abundance Taxa Show Diverse Microbial Symbiotic Interactions With the Freshwater Sponge, Radiospongilla crateriformis, Pre and Post Gemmulation.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- NOD-like receptor repertoire in the chromosome-level genome of the demospongeFrontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Experimental taphonomy of marine algae and cyanobacteria reveals the decoupling of morphological and chemical decay patterns.iScience · 2025Article
- The terminal Ediacaran Tongshan Lagerstätte from South China.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Chemical characterization of CProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Unraveling the Role of Spicules in Shaping Sponge Body Structure: Evidence from the Early Cambrian Shuijingtuo Formation.Biology · 2025Article
- Ocean deoxygenation after the Sturtian Snowball.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Biosignatures of diverse eukaryotic life from a Snowball Earth analogue environment in Antarctica.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Ecosystem relocation on Snowball Earth: Polar-alpine ancestry of the extant surface biosphere?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Presence of polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetase in culturable bacteria associated with Aplysina fulva and Aplysina caissara (Porifera).Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2025Article
- The Rise of Algae promoted eukaryote predation in the Neoproterozoic benthos.Science advances · 2025Article
- Marine endophytes: biosynthetic engines for novel bioactive metabolites.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Nrf1 acts as a highly-conserved determinon for maintaining robust redox homeostasis in the eco-evo-devo process of life histories.Cell stress · 2025Review
- Evolution of Oligodendroglia and Myelin.Advances in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Ediacaran origin and Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa.Science advances · 2024Article
- A taxon-rich and genome-scale phylogeny of Opisthokonta.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Dawn of diverse shelled and carbonaceous animal microfossils at ~ 571 Ma.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Physical constraints during Snowball Earth drive the evolution of multicellularity.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
82 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Neoproterozoic era (1,000-542 Myr ago) was an era of climatic extremes and biological evolutionary developments culminating in the emergence of animals (Metazoa) and new ecosystems. Here we show that abundant sedimentary 24-isopropylcholestanes, the hydrocarbon remains of C(30) sterols produced by marine demosponges, record the presence of Metazoa in the geological record before the end of the Marinoan glaciation ( approximately 635 Myr ago). These sterane biomarkers are abundant in all formations of the Huqf Supergroup, South Oman Salt Basin, and, based on a new high-precision geochronology, constitute a continuous 100-Myr-long chemical fossil record of demosponges through the terminal Neoproterozoic and into the Early Cambrian epoch. The demosponge steranes occur in strata that underlie the Marinoan cap carbonate (>635 Myr ago). They currently represent the oldest evidence for animals in the fossil record, and are evidence for animals pre-dating the termination of the Marinoan glaciation. This suggests that shallow shelf waters in some late Cryogenian ocean basins (>635 Myr ago) contained dissolved oxygen in concentrations sufficient to support basal metazoan life at least 100 Myr before the rapid diversification of bilaterians during the Cambrian explosion. Biomarker analysis has yet to reveal any convincing evidence for ancient sponges pre-dating the first globally extensive Neoproterozoic glacial episode (the Sturtian, approximately 713 Myr ago in Oman).
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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.