Infancy of sterol biosynthesis hints at extinct eukaryotic species

Fabien Kenig is in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.

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The biosynthetic pathways that give rise to molecules called sterols are well established in the scientific literature. These pathways include the modifications (oxidation and cyclization) of a molecule called squalene to form lanosterol and cycloartenol, which are protosterols — precursors of other sterols. Numerous other steps are then needed to make cholesterol and other related sterols (known as crown sterols) that are found in organisms with cells that have a nucleus (eukaryotes); organisms called crown eukaryotes are either living eukaryotic species or extinct eukaryotic species that are descended from the last common ancestor of all living eukaryotes. Under favourable conditions, the carbon backbones of sterols can be preserved in ancient sedimentary rocks as molecular fossils, which are versions of the molecules that arise as a consequence of geological processes. Writing in Nature, Brocks et al.1 report that their exploration of molecular fossils has uncovered an approximately 640-million-year-long period of Earth's history when sterol biosynthesis had not yet evolved the complex pathways that exist today.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01816-1

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The author declares no competing interests.

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