Barbara Cavalazzi1,2, Laurence Lemelle3, Alexandre Simionovici4,5, Sherry L Cady6, Michael J Russell7, Elena Bailo8, Roberto Canteri9, Emanuele Enrico10, Alain Manceau4, Assimo Maris11, Murielle Salomé12, Emilie Thomassot13, Nordine Bouden13, Rémi Tucoulou12, Axel Hofmann2. 1. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. barbara.cavalazzi@unibo.it. 2. Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa. 3. LGL-TPE, ENS de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France. 4. ISTerre, University of Grenoble-Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble, France. 5. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France. 6. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, EMSL, Richland, WA, USA. 7. Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy. 8. WITec GmbH, Ulm, Germany. 9. FBK-Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy. 10. INRiM, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Torino, Italy. 11. Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician," Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. 12. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France. 13. Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRPG, Nancy, France.
Abstract
Subsurface habitats on Earth host an extensive extant biosphere and likely provided one of Earth's earliest microbial habitats. Although the site of life's emergence continues to be debated, evidence of early life provides insights into its early evolution and metabolic affinity. Here, we present the discovery of exceptionally well-preserved, ~3.42-billion-year-old putative filamentous microfossils that inhabited a paleo-subseafloor hydrothermal vein system of the Barberton greenstone belt in South Africa. The filaments colonized the walls of conduits created by low-temperature hydrothermal fluid. Combined with their morphological and chemical characteristics as investigated over a range of scales, they can be considered the oldest methanogens and/or methanotrophs that thrived in an ultramafic volcanic substrate.
Subsurface habitats on Earth host an extenpan class="Chemical">sin>ve extant biosphere and likely provided one of Earth's earliest microbial habitats. Although the n>an class="Chemical">site of life's emergence continues to be debated, evidence of early life provides inpan class="Chemical">sights into its early evolution and metabolic affinity. Here, we present the discovery of exceptionally well-preserved, ~3.42-billion-year-old putative filamentous microfossils that inhabited a paleo-subseafloor hydrothermal vein system of the Barberton greenstone belt in South Africa. The filaments colonized the walls of conduits created by low-temperature hydrothermal fluid. Combined with their morphological and chemical characteristics as investigated over a range of scales, they can be considered the oldest methanogens and/or methanotrophs that thrived in an ultramafic volcanic substrate.
Authors: Alberto Pérez-Huerta; Chiara Cappelli; Ylenia Jabalera; Tanya Prozorov; Concepcion Jimenez-Lopez; Dennis A Bazylinski Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2022-07-28 Impact factor: 12.779
Authors: Thomas C Day; Pedro Márquez-Zacarías; Pablo Bravo; Aawaz R Pokhrel; Kathryn A MacGillivray; William C Ratcliff; Peter J Yunker Journal: Biophys Rev (Melville) Date: 2022-06-01
Authors: Brian P Hedlund; Chuanlun Zhang; Fengping Wang; Christian Rinke; William F Martin Journal: Front Microbiol Date: 2022-01-21 Impact factor: 5.640