Brocks JJ, Buick R, Summons RE, Logan GA (2003) A reconstruction
of Archean biological diversity based on molecular fossils from the
2.78 to 2.45 billion-year-old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Hamersley
Basin, Western Australia. Geochim Cosmochim Acta
67:4321–4335
Butterfield NJ (2000) Bangiomorpha pubescens n.gen., n. sp.:
implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the
Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of Eukaryotes. Paleobiology 26:386–404
Byerly GR, Lowe DR, Walsh MM (1986) Stromatolites from the
3300–3500 Myr Swaziland Supergroup, Barberton Mountain
Land, South Africa. Nature 319:489–491
Canfield DE, Rosing MT, Bjerrum C (2006) Early anaerobic
metabolisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1819–1834; discussion 1835–1816
Castresana J (2004) Evolution and phylogenetic analysis of respiration.
In: Zannoni D (ed) Respiration in archaea and bacteria. Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dorderecht/Boston/London, pp 1–14
Cavalier-Smith T (2002) The neomuran origin of archaebacteria, the
negibacterial root of the universal tree and bacterial megaclassification. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52:7–76
Courties C et al (1994) Smallest eukaryotic organism. Nature 370:255
De Duve C (1995) Vital dust: life as a cosmic imperative. Basic Books,
New York
De Duve C (2002)
A l’e ´coute du vivant. Odile Jacob, Paris
Ehrlich HL (2002) The origin of life and its early history.
In: Geomicrobiology. M. Dekker, Inc, New York/Basel, pp 21–48
El Albani A et al (2010) Large colonial organisms with coordinated
growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago. Nature
466:100–104
Forterre P (2002) The origin of DNA genomes and DNA replication
proteins. Curr Opin Microbiol 5:525–532
Forterre P, Bouthier De La Tour C, Philippe H, Duguet M (2000)
Reverse gyrase from hyperthermophiles: probable transfer of a
thermoadaptation trait from archaea to bacteria. Trends Genet
16:152–154
Forterre P, Gribaldo S, Brochier C (2005) Luca: the last universal
common ancestor. Med Sci 21:860–865
Galtier N, Tourasse N, Gouy M (1999) A nonhyperthermophilic
common ancestor to extant life forms. Science 283:220–221
Garcia-Ruiz JM, Hyde ST, Carnerup AM, Christy AG, van Kranendonk
MJ, Welham NJ (2003) Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures
and detection of ancient microfossils. Science 302:1194–1197
Gaucher EA, Thomson JM, Burgan MF, Benner SA (2003) Inferring
the palaeoenvironment of ancient bacteria on the basis of
resurrected proteins. Nature 425:285–288
Gogarten JP et al (1989) Evolution of the vacuolar H + À ATPase:
implications for the origin of eukaryotes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
86:6661–6665
Grassineau NV et al (2001) Antiquity of the biological sulphur cycle:
evidence from sulphur and carbon isotopes in 2700 million-year-old
rocks of the Belingwe belt, Zimbabwe. Proc Roy Soc Lond B
268:113–119
Han TM, Runnegar B (1992) Megascopic eukaryotic algae from the
2.1-billion-year-old negaunee iron-formation, Michigan. Science
257:232–235
Hoefs J (2004) Stable isotopes geochemistry. 5th completely revised,
updated, and enlarged edition. Springer, Berlin, 244 p
Hofmann HJ, Grey K, Hickman AH, Thorpe RI (1999) Origin of
3.45 Ga coniform stromatolites in Warrawoona Group, Western
Australia. Geol Soc A Bull 111:1256–1262
Iwabe N, Kuma K, Hasegawa M, Osawa S, Miyata T (1989)
Evolutionary relationship of archaebacteria, eubacteria, and
eukaryotes inferred from phylogenetic trees of duplicated genes.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 86:9355–9359
Javaux EJ, Knoll AH, Walter MR (2001) Morphological and ecological
complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems. Nature 412:66–69
Javaux EJ, Marshall CP, Bekker A (2010) Organic-walled microfossils
in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits. Nature
463:934–938
Kasting JF, Howard MT (2006) Atmospheric composition and climate
on the early Earth. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1733–1741; discussion 1741–1732
Knauth LP, Lowe DR (2003) High Archean climatic temperature
inferred from oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts in the 3.5 Ga
Swaziland Supergroup. S Afr Geol Soc Am Bull 115:566–580
Knoll AH, Javaux EJ, Hewitt D, Cohen P (2006) Eukaryotic organisms
in Proterozoic oceans. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1023–1038
Koonin EV (2003) Comparative genomics, minimal gene-sets and the
last universal common ancestor. Nat Rev Microbiol 1:127–136
Krumbein WE (1983) Stromatolites, the challenge of a term in space
and time. Dev Precambrian Geol 7:385–423
Lenton T, Watson A (2011) Revolutions that made the Earth. Oxford
University Press, Oxford
Lombard J, Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P, Moreira D (2012) The early evolution of
lipid membranes and the three domains of life. Nat Rev Microbiol
10:507–515
Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P, Moreira D (2006) Selective forces for the origin of the
eukaryotic nucleus. Bioessays 28:525–533
Margulis L (1970) Origin of eukaryotic cells. Yale University Press, Yale
Martin W, Muller M (1998) The hydrogen hypothesis for the first
eukaryote. Nature 392:37–41
Maynard Smith J, Szathma ´ry E (2000) The origins of life. Oxford
University Press, Oxford
McCutcheon JP, Moran NA (2012) Extreme genome reduction in
symbiotic bacteria. Nat Rev Microbiol 10:13–26
Moreira D, Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P (1998) Symbiosis between methanogenic
archaea and delta-proteobacteria as the origin of eukaryotes: the
syntrophic hypothesis. J Mol Evol 47:517–530
Mulkidjanian AY et al (2006) The cyanobacterial genome core and the
origin of photosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103:13126–13131
Mushegian AR, Koonin EV (1996) A minimal gene set for cellular life
derived by comparison of complete bacterial genomes. Proc Natl
Acad Sci U S A 93:10268–10273
Nakabachi A, Yamashita A, Toh H, Ishikawa H, Dunbar HE, Moran
NA, Hattori M (2006) The 160-kilobase genome of the bacterial
endosymbiont Carsonella. Science 314:267
Nealson KH, Rye R (2003) Evolution of metabolism. In: Holland HD,
Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry. New-Haven, Elsevier,
pp 41–61
Nelson DL, Cox MM (2000) Lehninger principles of biochemistry.
Worth Publishers, New York
Nisbet EG, Fowler CMR (2003) The early history of life. In: Holland
HD, Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry. New-Haven,
Elsevier, pp 1–39
Nisbet EG, Cann JR, Lee van Dover C (1995) Origins of photosynthesis. Nature 373:479–480
Ohmoto H (2004) The Archaean atmosphere, hydrosphere and
biosphere. In: Eriksson PG, Altermann W, Nelson DR, Mueller
WU, Catueanu O (eds) The Precambrian earth: tempos and events.
Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 361–388
Ourisson G, Nakatani Y (1994) The terpenoid theory of the origin of
cellular life: the evolution of terpenoids to cholesterol. Curr Biol
1:11–23
Peters KE, Walters CC, Moldowan JM (2007) The biomarker guide,
vol 1–2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Philippot P, Van Zuilen M, Lepot K, Thomazo C, Farquhar J, Van
Kranendonk MJ (2007) Early archaean microorganisms preferred
elemental sulfur, not sulfate. Science 317:1534–1537
4 For Three Billion Years, Microorganisms Were the Only Inhabitants of the Earth
105
of Archean biological diversity based on molecular fossils from the
2.78 to 2.45 billion-year-old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Hamersley
Basin, Western Australia. Geochim Cosmochim Acta
67:4321–4335
Butterfield NJ (2000) Bangiomorpha pubescens n.gen., n. sp.:
implications for the evolution of sex, multicellularity, and the
Mesoproterozoic/Neoproterozoic radiation of Eukaryotes. Paleobiology 26:386–404
Byerly GR, Lowe DR, Walsh MM (1986) Stromatolites from the
3300–3500 Myr Swaziland Supergroup, Barberton Mountain
Land, South Africa. Nature 319:489–491
Canfield DE, Rosing MT, Bjerrum C (2006) Early anaerobic
metabolisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1819–1834; discussion 1835–1816
Castresana J (2004) Evolution and phylogenetic analysis of respiration.
In: Zannoni D (ed) Respiration in archaea and bacteria. Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dorderecht/Boston/London, pp 1–14
Cavalier-Smith T (2002) The neomuran origin of archaebacteria, the
negibacterial root of the universal tree and bacterial megaclassification. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52:7–76
Courties C et al (1994) Smallest eukaryotic organism. Nature 370:255
De Duve C (1995) Vital dust: life as a cosmic imperative. Basic Books,
New York
De Duve C (2002)
A l’e ´coute du vivant. Odile Jacob, Paris
Ehrlich HL (2002) The origin of life and its early history.
In: Geomicrobiology. M. Dekker, Inc, New York/Basel, pp 21–48
El Albani A et al (2010) Large colonial organisms with coordinated
growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago. Nature
466:100–104
Forterre P (2002) The origin of DNA genomes and DNA replication
proteins. Curr Opin Microbiol 5:525–532
Forterre P, Bouthier De La Tour C, Philippe H, Duguet M (2000)
Reverse gyrase from hyperthermophiles: probable transfer of a
thermoadaptation trait from archaea to bacteria. Trends Genet
16:152–154
Forterre P, Gribaldo S, Brochier C (2005) Luca: the last universal
common ancestor. Med Sci 21:860–865
Galtier N, Tourasse N, Gouy M (1999) A nonhyperthermophilic
common ancestor to extant life forms. Science 283:220–221
Garcia-Ruiz JM, Hyde ST, Carnerup AM, Christy AG, van Kranendonk
MJ, Welham NJ (2003) Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures
and detection of ancient microfossils. Science 302:1194–1197
Gaucher EA, Thomson JM, Burgan MF, Benner SA (2003) Inferring
the palaeoenvironment of ancient bacteria on the basis of
resurrected proteins. Nature 425:285–288
Gogarten JP et al (1989) Evolution of the vacuolar H + À ATPase:
implications for the origin of eukaryotes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
86:6661–6665
Grassineau NV et al (2001) Antiquity of the biological sulphur cycle:
evidence from sulphur and carbon isotopes in 2700 million-year-old
rocks of the Belingwe belt, Zimbabwe. Proc Roy Soc Lond B
268:113–119
Han TM, Runnegar B (1992) Megascopic eukaryotic algae from the
2.1-billion-year-old negaunee iron-formation, Michigan. Science
257:232–235
Hoefs J (2004) Stable isotopes geochemistry. 5th completely revised,
updated, and enlarged edition. Springer, Berlin, 244 p
Hofmann HJ, Grey K, Hickman AH, Thorpe RI (1999) Origin of
3.45 Ga coniform stromatolites in Warrawoona Group, Western
Australia. Geol Soc A Bull 111:1256–1262
Iwabe N, Kuma K, Hasegawa M, Osawa S, Miyata T (1989)
Evolutionary relationship of archaebacteria, eubacteria, and
eukaryotes inferred from phylogenetic trees of duplicated genes.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 86:9355–9359
Javaux EJ, Knoll AH, Walter MR (2001) Morphological and ecological
complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems. Nature 412:66–69
Javaux EJ, Marshall CP, Bekker A (2010) Organic-walled microfossils
in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits. Nature
463:934–938
Kasting JF, Howard MT (2006) Atmospheric composition and climate
on the early Earth. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1733–1741; discussion 1741–1732
Knauth LP, Lowe DR (2003) High Archean climatic temperature
inferred from oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts in the 3.5 Ga
Swaziland Supergroup. S Afr Geol Soc Am Bull 115:566–580
Knoll AH, Javaux EJ, Hewitt D, Cohen P (2006) Eukaryotic organisms
in Proterozoic oceans. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
361:1023–1038
Koonin EV (2003) Comparative genomics, minimal gene-sets and the
last universal common ancestor. Nat Rev Microbiol 1:127–136
Krumbein WE (1983) Stromatolites, the challenge of a term in space
and time. Dev Precambrian Geol 7:385–423
Lenton T, Watson A (2011) Revolutions that made the Earth. Oxford
University Press, Oxford
Lombard J, Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P, Moreira D (2012) The early evolution of
lipid membranes and the three domains of life. Nat Rev Microbiol
10:507–515
Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P, Moreira D (2006) Selective forces for the origin of the
eukaryotic nucleus. Bioessays 28:525–533
Margulis L (1970) Origin of eukaryotic cells. Yale University Press, Yale
Martin W, Muller M (1998) The hydrogen hypothesis for the first
eukaryote. Nature 392:37–41
Maynard Smith J, Szathma ´ry E (2000) The origins of life. Oxford
University Press, Oxford
McCutcheon JP, Moran NA (2012) Extreme genome reduction in
symbiotic bacteria. Nat Rev Microbiol 10:13–26
Moreira D, Lo ´pez-Garcı ´a P (1998) Symbiosis between methanogenic
archaea and delta-proteobacteria as the origin of eukaryotes: the
syntrophic hypothesis. J Mol Evol 47:517–530
Mulkidjanian AY et al (2006) The cyanobacterial genome core and the
origin of photosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103:13126–13131
Mushegian AR, Koonin EV (1996) A minimal gene set for cellular life
derived by comparison of complete bacterial genomes. Proc Natl
Acad Sci U S A 93:10268–10273
Nakabachi A, Yamashita A, Toh H, Ishikawa H, Dunbar HE, Moran
NA, Hattori M (2006) The 160-kilobase genome of the bacterial
endosymbiont Carsonella. Science 314:267
Nealson KH, Rye R (2003) Evolution of metabolism. In: Holland HD,
Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry. New-Haven, Elsevier,
pp 41–61
Nelson DL, Cox MM (2000) Lehninger principles of biochemistry.
Worth Publishers, New York
Nisbet EG, Fowler CMR (2003) The early history of life. In: Holland
HD, Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry. New-Haven,
Elsevier, pp 1–39
Nisbet EG, Cann JR, Lee van Dover C (1995) Origins of photosynthesis. Nature 373:479–480
Ohmoto H (2004) The Archaean atmosphere, hydrosphere and
biosphere. In: Eriksson PG, Altermann W, Nelson DR, Mueller
WU, Catueanu O (eds) The Precambrian earth: tempos and events.
Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 361–388
Ourisson G, Nakatani Y (1994) The terpenoid theory of the origin of
cellular life: the evolution of terpenoids to cholesterol. Curr Biol
1:11–23
Peters KE, Walters CC, Moldowan JM (2007) The biomarker guide,
vol 1–2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Philippot P, Van Zuilen M, Lepot K, Thomazo C, Farquhar J, Van
Kranendonk MJ (2007) Early archaean microorganisms preferred
elemental sulfur, not sulfate. Science 317:1534–1537
4 For Three Billion Years, Microorganisms Were the Only Inhabitants of the Earth
105