ArticleNature ecology & evolution2023
Genetics re-establish the utility of 2-methylhopanes as cyanobacterial biomarkers before 750 million years ago.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 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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5 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Origin and transport of bacterial hopanoids.mSystems · 2026Article
- Proterozoic microfossils continue to provide new insights into the rise of complex eukaryotic life.Royal Society open science · 2024Review
- Origin and Evolution of thePlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Phylogenetic reconciliation: making the most of genomes to understand microbial ecology and evolution.The ISME journal · 2024Review
- Article
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9 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
Fossilized lipids offer a rare glimpse into ancient ecosystems. 2-Methylhopanes in sedimentary rocks were once used to infer the importance of cyanobacteria as primary producers throughout geological history. However, the discovery of hopanoid C-2 methyltransferase (HpnP) in Alphaproteobacteria led to the downfall of this molecular proxy. In the present study, we re-examined the distribution of HpnP in a new phylogenetic framework including recently proposed candidate phyla and re-interpreted a revised geological record of 2-methylhopanes based on contamination-free samples. We show that HpnP was probably present in the last common ancestor of cyanobacteria, while the gene appeared in Alphaproteobacteria only around 750 million years ago (Ma). A subsequent rise of sedimentary 2-methylhopanes around 600 Ma probably reflects the expansion of Alphaproteobacteria that coincided with the rise of eukaryotic algae-possibly connected by algal dependency on microbially produced vitamin B
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