Discover how a pioneering new method is shedding light on the evolution of early cellular life, using cutting-edge technology to analyze tiny microfossils and reveal their hidden secrets.
Cracking The Bulletproof Vest of Microfossils
Not all fossils are gigantic and dinosaur sized. These are tiny fossils, not to be seen by the naked eye, that allow us a window on early life. These small fossilized clues of ancient life have the potential to tell us much about how fundamental cellular traits and metabolic pathways emerged.
In the future, Tohoku University researchers hope to attain a better understanding of what these microfossils reveal with the help of their co-investigators from multiple other Japanese universities. By anchoring the fossils to a glass slide (ITO-glass, coated with Indium tin oxide) and then examining them with both optical and electron microscopy, the scientists were able to analyze in even more minute detail their internal structure as well as their chemical composition.
Revealing the Secrets Within
ITO-glass coatings are used to improve the optical conductivity and human-microscopic observation capabilities, but they also allow for the precise detection of trace elements within microfossils. This is important, because scientists must be able to differentiate between the chemical signatures of the fossils and any ambient noise that may come from the surrounding sedimentary rocks.
The researchers imaged and quantified the concentrations of essential elements such as phosphorus and molybdenum in microfossils using high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS). In this case, the presence of phosphorus turned up right along the edges of the fossils, suggesting that these early microbes already had phospholipid cell membranes similar to what we see in life today. The presence of molybdenum in the microfossil bodies also indicated that they contained enzymes for nitrogen fixation, supporting the idea that these fossils were cyanobacteria.
As we show, this new protocol provides a major step forward in reconstructing the cellular and metabolic properties of ancient microorganisms directly.docx Being able to return to the same sample over and over again helps researchers uncover the secrets hidden in these microscopic fossils.
Conclusion
The key discovery of this groundbreaking project is anticipated to redefine the field of early life evolution, and the information extracted from these findings will conceive an improved knowledge of when and where life first emerged. The secret that has been locked in these tiny microfossils has finally been revealed, helping researchers being able to advance their understanding of early cellular and metabolic evolution and answer more definitively the great questions on how life began and changed during Earth’s 4-billion-year history.
