Morphological Comparison between Sphaerococcus Colonies and Ediacara Discoidal Fossils
详细信息
- 责任者：Tong Guanghui (State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics ; Department of Geology ; Northwest University ; Xi’an 710069 ; China) ; Zhang Xingliang
- 刊名：Acta Palaeontologica Sinica
- 出版年：2011
- 卷期：50(1)
- 关键词：细菌 ; bacteria ; 新元古代 ; Neoproterozoic Era
- 页码：p.92-99
- 图表：4 illus., 1 table, 30 refs.
- 分类号：1102
- 出版序号：20120368
- issnNo：ISSN0001-6616
- isbnNo：CN32-1188/Q
摘要
A number of microbial species isolated from the natural environment have been cultured in the laboratory so as to obtain the extant morphology of their colonies. These were then compared with certain discoidal Ediacara fossils whose affinities remain highly controversial. The results show that 1) iron-oxidizing bacterium Sphaerococcus when isolated from sandstone-type Uranium ore, enriched and cultured solely on Winogradsky medium, can form discoidal colonies with concentric growth zones; and 2) sphaerococcus colonies are not only stable in form. The research implies that some of the Ediacara fossils are likely to be impressions of microbial colonies.