Sánchez-Baracaldo, P., Bianchini, G., Wilson, J. D. & Knoll, A. H. Cyanobacteria and biogeochemical cycles through Earth history. Trends Microbiol. 30, 143–157 (2022).
Ostrander, C. M., Johnson, A. C. & Anbar, A. D. Earth’s first redox revolution. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 49, 337–366 (2021).
Wilmeth, D. T. et al. Evidence for benthic oxygen production in Neoarchean lacustrine stromatolites. Geology 50, 907–911 (2022).
Slotznick, S. P. et al. Reexamination of 2.5-Ga “Whiff” of oxygen interval points to anoxic ocean before GOE. Sci. Adv. 8, eabj7190 (2022).
Demoulin, C. F. et al. Cyanobacteria evolution: insight from the fossil record. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 140, 206–223 (2019).
Rippka, R., Waterbury, J. & Cohen-Bazire, G. A cyanobacterium which lacks thylakoids. Arch. Microbiol. 100, 419–436 (1974).
Komarek, J. & Anagnostidis, K. in Freshwater Flora of Central Europe Vol. 19, (ed. Moltmann, U. G.) 34–36 (Spektrum Akademischer, 2008).
Cavalier-Smith, T. The neomuran origin of archaebacterial, the negibacterial root of the universal tree and bacterial megaclassification. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 52, 7–76 (2002).
Shih, P. M., Hemp, J., Ward, L. M., Matzke, N. J. & Fischer, W. W. Crown group Oxyphotobacteria postdate the rise of oxygen. Geobiology 15, 19–29 (2017).
Rahmatpour, N. et al. A novel thylakoid-less isolate fills a billion-year gap in the evolution of cyanobacteria. Curr. Biol. 31, 2857–2867 (2021).
Fournier, G. P. et al. The Archean origin of oxygenic photosynthesis and extant cyanobacterial lineages. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 288, 20210675 (2021).
Hofmann, H. J. Precambrian microflora, Belcher Islands, Canada: significance and systematics. J. Paleontol. 50, 1040–1073 (1976).
Hodgskiss, M. S. et al. New insights on the Orosirian carbon cycle, early Cyanobacteria, and the assembly of Laurentia from the Paleoproterozoic Belcher Group. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 520, 141–152 (2019).
Jabłońska, J. & Tawfik, D. S. The evolution of oxygen-utilizing enzymes suggests early biosphere oxygenation. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 5, 442–448 (2021).
Cardona, T., Sánchez-Baracaldo, P., Rutherford, A. W. & Larkum, A. W. D. Early Archean origin of Photosystem II. Geobiology 17, 127–150 (2019).
Sánchez-Baracaldo, P. & Cardona, T. On the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis and cyanobacteria. New Phytol. 225, 1440–1446 (2020).
Blank, C. E. & Sánchez-Baracaldo, P. Timing of morphological and ecological innovations in the cyanobacteria a key to understand the rise in atmospheric oxygen. Geobiology 8, 1–23 (2010).
Schirrmeister, B. E., Gugger, M. & Donoghue, P. C. Cyanobacteria and the Great Oxidation Event: evidence from genes and fossils. Palaeontology 58, 769–785 (2015).
Shih, P. M. et al. Biochemical characterization of predicted Precambrian RuBisCO. Nat. Commun. 7, 10382 (2016).
Schwartz, R. M. & Dayhoff, M. O. Origins of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Science 199, 395–403 (1978).
Golubic, S. & Hofmann, H. J. Comparison of Holocene and mid-Precambrian Entophysalidaceae (Cyanophyta) in stromatolitic algal mats: cell division and degradation. J. Paleontol. 50, 1074–1082 (1976).
Butterfield, N. J. Proterozoic photosynthesis – a critical review. Palaeontology 58, 953–972 (2015).
Sergeev, V. N. Microfossils in cherts from the middle riphean (mesoproterozoic) Avzyan Formation, southern ural Mountains, Russian federation. Precambrian Res. 65, 231–254 (1994).
Zhang, Y. Proterozoic stromatolitic micro-organisms from Hebei, North China: cell preservation and cell division. Precambrian Res. 38, 165–175 (1988).
Javaux, E. J., Knoll, A. H. & Walter, M. R. TEM evidence for eukaryotic diversity in mid-Proterozoic oceans. Geobiology 2, 121–132 (2004).
Loron, C. C., Rainbird, R. H., Turner, E. C., Greenman, J. W. & Javaux, E. J. Organic-walled microfossils from the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic lower Shaler Supergroup (Arctic Canada): diversity and biostratigraphic significance. Precambrian Res. 321, 349–374 (2019).
Shimoni, E., Rav-Hon, O., Ohad, I., Brumfeld, V. & Reich, Z. Three-dimensional organization of higher-plant chloroplast thylakoid membranes revealed by electron tomography. Plant Cell 17, 2580–2586 (2005).
Gonzalez-Esquer, C. R. et al. Cyanobacterial ultrastructure in light of genomic sequence data. Photosynth. Res. 129, 147–157 (2016).
Mareš, J., Strunecký, O., Bučinská, L. & Wiedermannova, J. Evolutionary patterns of thylakoid architecture in cyanobacteria. Front. Microbiol. 10, 277 (2019).
Mareš, J. et al. The primitive thylakoid-less cyanobacterium Gloeobacter is a common rock-dwelling organism. PLoS ONE 8, e66323 (2013).
Nelissen, B., Van de Peer, Y., Wilmotte, A. & De Wachter, R. An early origin of platids within the cyanobacterial divergence is suggested by evolutionary trees based on complete 16S rRNA sequences. Mol. Biol. Evol. 12, 1166–1173 (1995).
Raven, J. A. & Sànchez-Baracaldo, P. Gloeobacter and the implications of a freshwater origin of cyanobacteria. Phycologia 60, 402–418 (2021).
Guéguen, N. & Maréchal, E. Origin of cyanobacterial thylakoids via a non-vesicvular glycolipid phase transition and their impact on the Great Oxygenation Event. J. Exp. Bot. 73, 2721–2734 (2022).
Pacton, M., Gorin, G. E. & Fiet, N. Unravelling the origin of ultralaminae in sedimentary organic matter: the contribution of bacteria and photosynthetic organisms. J. Sediment. Res. 78, 654–667 (2008).
Kremer, B., Kaźmierczak, J. & Środoń, J. Cyanobacterial-algal crusts from Late Ediacaran paleosols of the East European Craton. Precambrian Res. 305, 236–246 (2018).
Schoenhut, K., Vann, D. R. & LePage, B. A. Cytological and ultrastructural preservation in Eocene Metasequoia leaves from the Canadian High Arctic. Am. J. Bot. 91, 816–824 (2004).
Wang, X., Liu, W., Du, K., He, X. & Jin, J. Ultrastructural of chloroplasts in fossil Nelumbo from the Eocene of Hainan Island, South China. Plant Syst. Evol. 300, 2259–2264 (2014).
Lepot, K. et al. Organic and mineral imprints in fossil photosynthetic mats of an East-Antarctic lake. Geobiol. 12, 424–450 (2014).
Miao, L., Moczydłowska, M., Zhu, S. & Zhu, M. New record of organic-walled, morphologically distinct microfossils from the late Paleoproterozoic ChangCheng Group in the Yanshan Range, North China. Precambrian Res. 321, 172–198 (2019).
Spinks, S. C., Schmid, S. & Pagès, A. Delayed euxinia in Paleoproterozoic intracontinental seas: vital havens for the evolution of eukaryotes. Precambrian Res. 287, 108–114 (2016).
François, C. et al. Multi-method dating constrains the diversification of early 2 eukaryotes in the Proterozoic Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup of the D.R.Congo and the geological evolution of the Congo Basin. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 198, 104785 (2023).
Baludikay, B. K., Storme, J. Y., François, C., Baudet, D. & Javaux, E. J. A diverse and exquisitely preserved organic-walled microfossil assemblage from the Meso–Neoproterozoic Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup (Democratic Republic of Congo) and implications for Proterozoic biostratigraphy. Precambrian Res. 281, 166–18 (2016).
Pyatiletov, V. G. Yudoma complex microfossils from southern Yakutia. Geol. Geofiz. 7, 8–20 (1980).
Hofmann, H. J. & Jackson, G. D. Shale-facies microfossils from the Proterozoic Bylot Supergroup, Baffin Island, Canada. J. Paleontol. 68, 1–35 (1994).
Kirchhoff, H. Chloroplast ultrastructure in plants. New Phytol. 223, 565–574 (2019).
Meng, L. et al. Measuring the dynamic response of the thylakoid architecture in plant leaves by electron microscopy. Plant Direct. 4, e00280 (2020).
Spinks, S. C., Schmid, S., Pagés, A. & Bluett, J. Evidence for SEDEX-style mineralization in the 1.7 Ga Tawallah Group, McArthur basin, Australia. Ore Geol. Rev. 76, 122–139 (2018).
Javaux, E. J., Marshall, C. P. & Bekker, A. Organic-walled microfossils in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits. Nature 463, 934–938 (2010).
Fatka, O. & Brocke, R. Morphological variability and method of opening of the Devonian acritarch Navifusa bacilla. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 148, 108–123 (2008).
Horodyski, R. J. & Donaldson, J. A. Microfossils from the middle Proterozoic Dismal Lakes Groups, Arctic Canada. Precambrian Res. 11, 125–159 (1980).
Golubic, S., Sergeev, V. N. & Knoll, A. H. Mesoproterozoic Archaeoellipsoides: akinetes of heterocystous cyanobacteria. Lethaia 28, 285–298 (1995).
Tomitani, A., Knoll, A. H., Cavanaugh, C. M. & Ohno, T. The evolutionary diversification of cyanobacteria: molecular–phylogenetic and paleontological perspectives. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 5442–5447 (2006).
Kaplan-Levy, R. N., Hadas, O., Summers, M. L., Rücker, J. & Sukenik, A. in Dormancy and Resistance in Harsh Environments (eds Lubzens, E. et al.) 5–27 (Springer, 2010).
Sergeev, V. N., Knoll, A. H., Vorob’eva, N. G. & Sergeeva, N. D. Microfossils from the lower Mesoproterozoic Kaltasy Formation, East European Platform. Precambrian Res. 278, 87–107 (2015).
Sukenik, A., Rücker, J. & Maldener, I. in Cyanobacteria from Basic Science to Applications (eds Mishra, A. K. et al.) 65–77 (Academic, 2019).
Perez, R., Forchhammer, K., Salerno, G. & Maldener, I. Clear differences in metabolic and porphological adaptations of akinetes of two Nostocales living in different habitats. Microbiology 162, 214–223 (2016).
López-García, P. & Moreira, D. The Syntrophy hypothesis for the origin of eukaryotes revisited. Nat. Microbiol. 5, 655–667 (2020).
Javaux, E. J. in Encyclopedia of Astrobiology (eds Gargaud, M. et al.), Ch. 538–4, 1–5 (Springer, 2021).
Baludikay, B. K. et al. Raman microspectroscopy, bitumen reflectance and illite crystallinity scale: comparison of different geothermometry methods on fossiliferous Proterozoic sedimentary basins (DR Congo, Mauritania and Australia). Int. J. Coal Geol. 191, 80–94 (2018).
Grey, K. A modified palynological preparation technique for the extraction of large Neoproterozoic acanthomorph acritarchs and other acid-insoluble microfossils. Western Australia Geological Survey, Record 1999/10 (1999).
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
