Extraordinary fossils reveal the nature of Cambrian life: a commentary on Whittington (1975) ‘The enigmatic animal Opabinia regalis,Middle Cambrian,Burgess Shale,British Columbia’

Harry Whittington''s 1975 monograph on Opabinia was the first to highlight how some of the Burgess Shale animals differ markedly from those that populate today''s oceans. Categorized by Stephen J. Gould as a ‘weird wonder’ (Wonderful life, 1989) Opabinia, together with other unusual Burgess Shale fossils, stimulated ongoing debates about the early evolution of the major animal groups and the nature of the Cambrian explosion. The subsequent discovery of a number of other exceptionally preserved fossil faunas of Cambrian and early Ordovician age has significantly augmented the information available on this critical interval in the history of life. Although Opabinia initially defied assignment to any group of modern animals, it is now interpreted as lying below anomalocaridids on the stem leading to the living arthropods. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.     

A role for iron and oxygen chemistry in preserving soft tissues,cells and molecules from deep time

The persistence of original soft tissues in Mesozoic fossil bone is not explained by current chemical degradation models. We identified iron particles (goethite-αFeO(OH)) associated with soft tissues recovered from two Mesozoic dinosaurs, using transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, micro-X-ray diffraction and Fe micro-X-ray absorption near-edge structure. Iron chelators increased fossil tissue immunoreactivity to multiple antibodies dramatically, suggesting a role for iron in both preserving and masking proteins in fossil tissues. Haemoglobin (HB) increased tissue stability more than 200-fold, from approximately 3 days to more than two years at room temperature (25°C) in an ostrich blood vessel model developed to test post-mortem ‘tissue fixation’ by cross-linking or peroxidation. HB-induced solution hypoxia coupled with iron chelation enhances preservation as follows: HB + O₂ > HB − O₂ > −O₂ ≫ +O₂. The well-known O₂/haeme interactions in the chemistry of life, such as respiration and bioenergetics, are complemented by O₂/haeme interactions in the preservation of fossil soft tissues.     

A case of unusually high oxygen demand in a eutrophic lake

An unusually high hypolimnetic water column BOD (WCBOD), roughly 40 times higher than the sediment oxygen demand (SOD), was observed in a small eutrophic lake and an adjoining lagoon. The mean 5-day WCBOD during thermal stratification in the lake was 29 and 49 g/m² at 10 and 20 °C, respectively, while in the lagoon it was even higher (47 and 87 g/m² at 10 and 20 °C, respectively). The soluble fraction comprised about two-thirds of the WCBOD. WCBOD in the lake was much less during the unstratified period (5-day = 5 g/m²). The SOD rates at two depths in both the lake (0.31 and 0.2 g/m²-d) and lagoon (0.41 and 0.28 g/m²-d) were not unusually high. The ultimate whole BOD (UWCBOD + USOD) was approximately 96 g/m² in the lake and 136 g/m² in the lagoon and UWCBOD formed over 90% of the ultimate whole BOD in both water bodies. A possible cause for these abnormally high WCBODs, in addition to the normal autochthonous production, is an allochthonous source from loosely aggregated and flocculant mats of the bog moss, Sphagnum, which surrounds the lake-lagoon system. Storm water per se was clearly insignificant, but would have contributed indirectly through nutrients for autochthonous production. Such high short-term BOD rates may greatly over-estimate the demand to be satisfied by continuous aeration.     

Genomic properties of Marine Group A bacteria indicate a role in the marine sulfur cycle

Marine Group A (MGA) is a deeply branching and uncultivated phylum of bacteria. Although their functional roles remain elusive, MGA subgroups are particularly abundant and diverse in oxygen minimum zones and permanent or seasonally stratified anoxic basins, suggesting metabolic adaptation to oxygen-deficiency. Here, we expand a previous survey of MGA diversity in O₂-deficient waters of the Northeast subarctic Pacific Ocean (NESAP) to include Saanich Inlet (SI), an anoxic fjord with seasonal O₂ gradients and periodic sulfide accumulation. Phylogenetic analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene clone libraries recovered five previously described MGA subgroups and defined three novel subgroups (SHBH1141, SHBH391, and SHAN400) in SI. To discern the functional properties of MGA residing along gradients of O₂ in the NESAP and SI, we identified and sequenced to completion 14 fosmids harboring MGA-associated 16S RNA genes from a collection of 46 fosmid libraries sourced from NESAP and SI waters. Comparative analysis of these fosmids, in addition to four publicly available MGA-associated large-insert DNA fragments from Hawaii Ocean Time-series and Monterey Bay, revealed widespread genomic differentiation proximal to the ribosomal RNA operon that did not consistently reflect subgroup partitioning patterns observed in 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. Predicted protein-coding genes associated with adaptation to O₂-deficiency and sulfur-based energy metabolism were detected on multiple fosmids, including polysulfide reductase (psrABC), implicated in dissimilatory polysulfide reduction to hydrogen sulfide and dissimilatory sulfur oxidation. These results posit a potential role for specific MGA subgroups in the marine sulfur cycle.     

Parataenidium,a new taenidium‐like ichnogenus from the carboniferous of Ireland

The new ichnogenus Parataenidium is erected for backfilled tubular trace fossils that can appear superficially similar to Taenidium, but are divided horizontally into two distinct levels. Two ichnospecies are recognised: Parataenidium mullaghmorensis isp. nov. and Parataenidium moniliformis (Tate 1859). The latter ichnospecies is transferred from Eione Tate 1859, which is a junior homonym of Eione Rafinesque 1814, and therefore unavailable for Tate's ichnotaxon. The ichnogenus is an important component of late Paleozoic shallow‐water siliciclastic sediments, and can be considered as a “guide”; indicator for the Carboniferous.