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Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta

Sponges are probably the earliest branching animals, and their fossil record dates back to the Precambrian. Identifying their skeletal structure and composition is thus a crucial step in improving our understanding of the early evolution of metazoans. Here, we present the discovery of 505–million-ye...

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Autores principales: Ehrlich, H., Rigby, J. Keith, Botting, J. P., Tsurkan, M. V., Werner, C., Schwille, P., Petrášek, Z., Pisera, A., Simon, P., Sivkov, V. N., Vyalikh, D. V., Molodtsov, S. L., Kurek, D., Kammer, M., Hunoldt, S., Born, R., Stawski, D., Steinhof, A., Bazhenov, V. V., Geisler, T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3861796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24336573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03497
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author Ehrlich, H.
Rigby, J. Keith
Botting, J. P.
Tsurkan, M. V.
Werner, C.
Schwille, P.
Petrášek, Z.
Pisera, A.
Simon, P.
Sivkov, V. N.
Vyalikh, D. V.
Molodtsov, S. L.
Kurek, D.
Kammer, M.
Hunoldt, S.
Born, R.
Stawski, D.
Steinhof, A.
Bazhenov, V. V.
Geisler, T.
author_facet Ehrlich, H.
Rigby, J. Keith
Botting, J. P.
Tsurkan, M. V.
Werner, C.
Schwille, P.
Petrášek, Z.
Pisera, A.
Simon, P.
Sivkov, V. N.
Vyalikh, D. V.
Molodtsov, S. L.
Kurek, D.
Kammer, M.
Hunoldt, S.
Born, R.
Stawski, D.
Steinhof, A.
Bazhenov, V. V.
Geisler, T.
author_sort Ehrlich, H.
collection PubMed
description Sponges are probably the earliest branching animals, and their fossil record dates back to the Precambrian. Identifying their skeletal structure and composition is thus a crucial step in improving our understanding of the early evolution of metazoans. Here, we present the discovery of 505–million-year-old chitin, found in exceptionally well preserved Vauxia gracilenta sponges from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Our new findings indicate that, given the right fossilization conditions, chitin is stable for much longer than previously suspected. The preservation of chitin in these fossils opens new avenues for research into other ancient fossil groups.
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spelling pubmed-38617962013-12-13 Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta Ehrlich, H. Rigby, J. Keith Botting, J. P. Tsurkan, M. V. Werner, C. Schwille, P. Petrášek, Z. Pisera, A. Simon, P. Sivkov, V. N. Vyalikh, D. V. Molodtsov, S. L. Kurek, D. Kammer, M. Hunoldt, S. Born, R. Stawski, D. Steinhof, A. Bazhenov, V. V. Geisler, T. Sci Rep Article Sponges are probably the earliest branching animals, and their fossil record dates back to the Precambrian. Identifying their skeletal structure and composition is thus a crucial step in improving our understanding of the early evolution of metazoans. Here, we present the discovery of 505–million-year-old chitin, found in exceptionally well preserved Vauxia gracilenta sponges from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Our new findings indicate that, given the right fossilization conditions, chitin is stable for much longer than previously suspected. The preservation of chitin in these fossils opens new avenues for research into other ancient fossil groups. Nature Publishing Group 2013-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3861796/ /pubmed/24336573 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03497 Text en Copyright © 2013, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
spellingShingle Article
Ehrlich, H.
Rigby, J. Keith
Botting, J. P.
Tsurkan, M. V.
Werner, C.
Schwille, P.
Petrášek, Z.
Pisera, A.
Simon, P.
Sivkov, V. N.
Vyalikh, D. V.
Molodtsov, S. L.
Kurek, D.
Kammer, M.
Hunoldt, S.
Born, R.
Stawski, D.
Steinhof, A.
Bazhenov, V. V.
Geisler, T.
Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title_full Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title_fullStr Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title_full_unstemmed Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title_short Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta
title_sort discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge vauxia gracilenta
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3861796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24336573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03497
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