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Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber
BACKGROUND: Microfossils are not only useful for elucidating biological macro- and microevolution but also the biogeochemical history of our planet. Pyritization is the most important and extensive mode of preservation of animals and especially of plants. Entrapping in amber, a fossilized resin, is...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2009
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649901/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19232082 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-7-9 |
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author | Martín-González, Ana Wierzchos, Jacek Gutiérrez, Juan-Carlos Alonso, Jesús Ascaso, Carmen |
author_facet | Martín-González, Ana Wierzchos, Jacek Gutiérrez, Juan-Carlos Alonso, Jesús Ascaso, Carmen |
author_sort | Martín-González, Ana |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Microfossils are not only useful for elucidating biological macro- and microevolution but also the biogeochemical history of our planet. Pyritization is the most important and extensive mode of preservation of animals and especially of plants. Entrapping in amber, a fossilized resin, is considered an alternative mode of biological preservation. For the first time, the internal organization of 114-million-year-old microfossils entrapped in Lower Cretaceous amber is described and analyzed, using adapted scanning electron microscopy in backscattered electron mode in association with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy microanalysis. Double fossilization of several protists included in diverse taxonomical groups and some vegetal debris is described and analyzed. RESULTS: In protists without an exoskeleton or shell (ciliates, naked amoebae, flagellates), determinate structures, including the nuclei, surface envelopes (cortex or cytoplasmic membrane) and hyaloplasm are the main sites of pyritization. In protists with a biomineralized skeleton (diatoms), silicon was replaced by pyrite. Permineralization was the main mode of pyritization. Framboidal, subhedral and microcrystalline are the predominant pyrite textures detected in the cells. Abundant pyritized vegetal debris have also been found inside the amber nuggets and the surrounding sediments. This vegetal debris usually contained numerous pyrite framboids and very densely packed polycrystalline pyrite formations infilled with different elements of the secondary xylem. CONCLUSION: Embedding in amber and pyritization are not always alternative modes of biological preservation during geological times, but double fossilization is possible under certain environmental conditions. Pyritization in protists shows a quite different pattern with regard to plants, due to the different composition and cellular architecture in these microorganisms and organisms. Anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria could play a crucial role in this microbial fossilization. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2649901 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2009 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-26499012009-03-03 Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber Martín-González, Ana Wierzchos, Jacek Gutiérrez, Juan-Carlos Alonso, Jesús Ascaso, Carmen BMC Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: Microfossils are not only useful for elucidating biological macro- and microevolution but also the biogeochemical history of our planet. Pyritization is the most important and extensive mode of preservation of animals and especially of plants. Entrapping in amber, a fossilized resin, is considered an alternative mode of biological preservation. For the first time, the internal organization of 114-million-year-old microfossils entrapped in Lower Cretaceous amber is described and analyzed, using adapted scanning electron microscopy in backscattered electron mode in association with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy microanalysis. Double fossilization of several protists included in diverse taxonomical groups and some vegetal debris is described and analyzed. RESULTS: In protists without an exoskeleton or shell (ciliates, naked amoebae, flagellates), determinate structures, including the nuclei, surface envelopes (cortex or cytoplasmic membrane) and hyaloplasm are the main sites of pyritization. In protists with a biomineralized skeleton (diatoms), silicon was replaced by pyrite. Permineralization was the main mode of pyritization. Framboidal, subhedral and microcrystalline are the predominant pyrite textures detected in the cells. Abundant pyritized vegetal debris have also been found inside the amber nuggets and the surrounding sediments. This vegetal debris usually contained numerous pyrite framboids and very densely packed polycrystalline pyrite formations infilled with different elements of the secondary xylem. CONCLUSION: Embedding in amber and pyritization are not always alternative modes of biological preservation during geological times, but double fossilization is possible under certain environmental conditions. Pyritization in protists shows a quite different pattern with regard to plants, due to the different composition and cellular architecture in these microorganisms and organisms. Anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria could play a crucial role in this microbial fossilization. BioMed Central 2009-02-20 /pmc/articles/PMC2649901/ /pubmed/19232082 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-7-9 Text en Copyright © 2009 Martín-González et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Martín-González, Ana Wierzchos, Jacek Gutiérrez, Juan-Carlos Alonso, Jesús Ascaso, Carmen Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title | Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title_full | Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title_fullStr | Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title_full_unstemmed | Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title_short | Double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from Lower Cretaceous amber |
title_sort | double fossilization in eukaryotic microorganisms from lower cretaceous amber |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649901/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19232082 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-7-9 |
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