ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016
Sterol and genomic analyses validate the sponge biomarker hypothesis.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed.
- Re-evaluating molecular clock maximum age calibrations revives pre-Ediacaran divergence estimates for animals.Science advances · 2026Article
- Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history.Science advances · 2026Article
- G-protein-coupled receptor diversity and evolution in the closest living relatives of metazoa.eLife · 2025Article
- Chemical characterization of CProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 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
- Proterozoic microfossils continue to provide new insights into the rise of complex eukaryotic life.Royal Society open science · 2024Review
- Accumulation of docosapentaenoic acid (n-3 DPA) in a novel isolate of the marine ichthyosporean Sphaeroforma arctica.Biotechnology letters · 2024Article
- Developmental biology ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Common origin of sterol biosynthesis points to a feeding strategy shift in Neoproterozoic animals.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Bioprinting in Microgravity.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2023Review
- De novo phytosterol synthesis in animals.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Sterol methyltransferases in uncultured bacteria complicate eukaryotic biomarker interpretations.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Article
- Recent Advances of Marine Sponge-Associated Microorganisms as a Source of Commercially Viable Natural Products.Marine biotechnology (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Review
- Article
- Barrettides: A Peptide Family Specifically Produced by the Deep-Sea SpongeJournal of natural products · 2021Article
- Article
- Algal origin of sponge sterane biomarkers negates the oldest evidence for animals in the rock record.Nature ecology & evolution · 2021Article
- Phanerozoic radiation of ammonia oxidizing bacteria.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
Molecular fossils (or biomarkers) are key to unraveling the deep history of eukaryotes, especially in the absence of traditional fossils. In this regard, the sterane 24-isopropylcholestane has been proposed as a molecular fossil for sponges, and could represent the oldest evidence for animal life. The sterane is found in rocks ∼650-540 million y old, and its sterol precursor (24-isopropylcholesterol, or 24-ipc) is synthesized today by certain sea sponges. However, 24-ipc is also produced in trace amounts by distantly related pelagophyte algae, whereas only a few close relatives of sponges have been assayed for sterols. In this study, we analyzed the sterol and gene repertoires of four taxa (Salpingoeca rosetta, Capsaspora owczarzaki, Sphaeroforma arctica, and Creolimax fragrantissima), which collectively represent the major living animal outgroups. We discovered that all four taxa lack C30 sterols, including 24-ipc. By building phylogenetic trees for key enzymes in 24-ipc biosynthesis, we identified a candidate gene (carbon-24/28 sterol methyltransferase, or SMT) responsible for 24-ipc production. Our results suggest that pelagophytes and sponges independently evolved C30 sterol biosynthesis through clade-specific SMT duplications. Using a molecular clock approach, we demonstrate that the relevant sponge SMT duplication event overlapped with the appearance of 24-isopropylcholestanes in the Neoproterozoic, but that the algal SMT duplication event occurred later in the Phanerozoic. Subsequently, pelagophyte algae and their relatives are an unlikely alternative to sponges as a source of Neoproterozoic 24-isopropylcholestanes, consistent with growing evidence that sponges evolved long before the Cambrian explosion ∼542 million y ago.
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