Perspectives
Nature Reviews Microbiology 7, 601-609 (August 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2167
Opinion: Unravelling ancient microbial history with community proteogenomics and lipid geochemistry
Jochen J. Brocks1 & Jillian Banfield2 About the authors
Abstract
Our window into the Earth's ancient microbial past is narrow and obscured by missing data. However, we can glean information about ancient microbial ecosystems using fossil lipids (biomarkers) that are extracted from billion-year-old sedimentary rocks. In this Opinion article, we describe how environmental genomics and related methodologies will give molecular fossil research a boost, by increasing our knowledge about how evolutionary innovations in microorganisms have changed the surface of planet Earth.
Author affiliations
- Jochen J. Brocks is at the Research School of Earth Sciences, and Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
- Jillian Banfield is at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767, USA.
Correspondence to: Jochen J. Brocks1 Email: jochen.brocks@anu.edu.au
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Biomarker evidence for green and purple sulphur bacteria in a stratified Palaeoproterozoic seaNature Letters to Editor (06 Oct 2005)
Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian periodNature Letters to Editor (05 Feb 2009)
