Chinese scientists find new clue to origin of life on Earth in string of pearls fossil from 80

Some researchers believe these represent a biologically formed fossil, while others see them as nonliving rock deposits, to be classified as a pseudofossil.

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Dinosaur fetus’ position inside Chinese egg fossil supports ancestral link with birds

Dinosaur fetus’ position inside Chinese egg fossil supports ancestral link with birds

However, Horodyskia samples unearthed in China were revealed to contain organic matter following extensive tests in a recent study.

“This evidence directly proves that Horodyskia was a living organism made up of multiple large cells,” said Professor Pang Ke from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology.

Pang and Professor Chen Lei from Shandong University of Science and Technology led the groundbreaking study, the findings of which were published in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Biology last week.

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The visually appealing samples, discovered in China’s Shandong and Anhui provinces, date back to what geologists call the Tonian Period – about 800 million years ago.

Both large “pearl necklace beads” and small “bracelet beads” were found in the samples, with some of them surrounded by a blurry boundary.

Previous studies had assumed the fossils originated from two species from different periods.

The large beads, with diameters of up to 10mm (0.4 inches) were first found in the lower layer of the Mesoproterozoic Era, dating back about 1.48 billion years, while the small ones, with diameters of less than 0.8mm, appeared at the Late Ediacaran Period, some 550 million years ago.

“Our discovery links the two fossils of different sizes and distant ages together, proving that they may come from the same species at different ages. Besides, the finding suggests that Horodyskia may have existed in this form for over a billion years,” Pang said.

Another highlight of this discovery is that it provides clues to the evolutionary path of multicellular organisms, which has long been a mystery for scientists.

Complex organisms, such as humans, have various functional cells, some providing energy and others supporting our movement, with cells living on each other.

However, early cells had a relatively simple metabolism and could survive individually. The transition has always been an intriguing question.

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One theory proposes that cells simply connected and aggregated during evolution, with life-sustaining material exchange occurring at cell boundaries.

Another suggests that early cells might have contained multiple control centres, which eventually formed cell groups when separated by respective protective layers.

In the Horodyskia samples from China, researchers found some beads showing signs of cell division that corresponded to the first theory. Also, in some beads, multiple control centres were found to coexist.

“[This] Horodyskia combines both of these primitive ways of multicellularity, which is quite remarkable. We guess it represents different evolutionary attempts made by Horodyskia at that time,” said Pang.

By comparing and analysing the samples, researchers were able to conclude that Horodyskia was possibly a chainlike algae made up of multiple large cells that lay on the sea floor. This discovery provides a significant step forward in understanding the early evolution of life on Earth.

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