Zinc enrichment and isotopic fractionation in a marine habitat of the c. 2.1 Ga Francevillian Group: A signature of zinc utilization by eukaryotes?

Ossa Ossa, Frantz, Pons, Marie-Laure, Bekker, Andrey, Hofmann, Axel, Poulton, Simon W., Andersen, Morten B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3130-9794, Agangi, Andrea, Gregory, Daniel, Reinke, Christian, Steinhilber, Bernd, Marin-Carbonne, Johanna and Schoenberg, Ronny 2023. Zinc enrichment and isotopic fractionation in a marine habitat of the c. 2.1 Ga Francevillian Group: A signature of zinc utilization by eukaryotes? Earth and Planetary Science Letters 611 , 118147. 10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118147

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Abstract

Constraining the timing of eukaryogenesis and the divergence of eukaryotic clades is a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Here, we present trace metal concentration and zinc isotope data for c. 2.1 billion-year-old Francevillian Group pyritized structures, previously described as putative remnants of the first colonial multicellular organisms, and their host black shales. Relative to the host rocks, pyritized structures are strongly enriched in zinc, cobalt and nickel, by at least one order of magnitude, with markedly lighter zinc isotope compositions. A metabolic demand for high concentrations of aqueous zinc, cobalt, and nickel combined with preferential uptake of lighter zinc isotopes may indicate metalloenzyme utilization by eukaryotes in marine habitats c. 2.1 billion years ago. Once confirmed, this would provide a critical calibration point for eukaryogenesis, suggesting that this major evolutionary innovation may have happened contemporaneously with elevated atmospheric oxygen levels during the latter part of the Great Oxidation Event, some 400 million years earlier than is currently widely accepted.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences Energy Systems Research Institute (ESURI)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0012-821X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 May 2023
Date of Acceptance:	25 March 2023
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2024 03:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159129

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