Filamentous sulfate-reducing bacterium microfossil

Oldest sulfate-reducing bacterium

A filamentous microfossil preserved in 518-million-year-old black shales, with pyrite-filled cells, providing the earliest fossil evidence of sulfate-reducing bacteria.

Cui, Linhao · Li, Ruiyun · Chang, Chao · Liu, Wei · Fu, Dongjing · Liu, Peiyu · Qiu, Hao · Tang, Guoqiang · Li, Qiuli · Gaines, Robert R. · Wang, Yingzhao · Li, Jinhua · Zhang, Xingliang

Science Bulletin 2024

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from ~518-million-year-old black shales

long filamentous form comprising hundreds of cells filled by equimorphic and equidimensional pyrite microcrystals