The Formation and Preservation of Synechococcus elongatus Cell Molds in Simulated Silica Sinter: Implications for the Identification of Microfossils
The Formation and Preservation of Synechococcus elongatus Cell Molds in Simulated Silica Sinter: Implications for the Identification of Microfossils
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模拟二氧化硅烧结体中细长聚球藻细胞模具的形成和保存：对微化石鉴定的意义
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
K. Konhauser
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Orange;S. Lalonde;K. Konhauser
在现代温泉系统周围沉淀的硅质烧结物能够使当地的微生物群落石化，形成准确勾勒出微生物形状的模具。随着时间的推移，生物量会腐烂，只有硅胶模具或它们的填充物可能会保留下来，作为以前活细胞的证据。然而，人们对这种硅霉菌的大小和形态的保真度知之甚少，而且用硅霉菌鉴定古代硅化微生物的关键参数的保存仍未得到测试。在这里，我们报告了在硅胶中检测蓝藻细长聚球藻的微生物霉菌形成的实验。我们证明，沉积后的过程，主要是干燥，是获得准确和坚固的霉菌的关键，而最初的干燥作用是加强细胞霉菌免受进一步改变的作用。然而，所有的硅胶处理都系统地产生了保存偏见(大小变化，额外的结构)，这可能是误导的，可能会使化石微生物的鉴定复杂化。
Siliceous sinters that precipitate around modern hot spring systems are able to fossilize the indigenous microbial communities, forming molds that accurately outline the shape of the microorganisms. Over time, the biomass decays, and only silica molds or their infill may remain as evidence of the former living cells. However, little is known regarding the fidelity of such silica molds in terms of size and morphology, and the preservation of critical parameters for the identification of ancient silicified microorganisms by silica molds remains untested. Here we report experiments examining the formation of microbial molds of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus in silica gel. We demonstrate that post-depositional processes, primarily desiccation, are crucial for obtaining accurate and robust molds, and that initial desiccation acts to strengthen cell molds against further alteration. However, all silica gel treatments systematically created preservational biases (changes in size, additional structures) that may be misleading and may complicate the identification of fossil microorganisms.