1.6 billion year old fossils have been discovered in India. They look like red algae representing the oldest-known plants. This discovery could force scientists to reconsider the timing of when major lineages in the tree of life first appeared on Earth.
These tiny, multicellular fossils have been classified by the researchers as two types of red algae, one thread-like and the other bulbous, which lived in a shallow marine environment alongside mats of bacteria. Before this discovery, the earliest-known plants were 1.2 billion year old red algae fossils from the Canadian Arctic.
Researchers found the fossils in phosphate-rich sedimentary rocks from Chitrakoot in Central India. These thread-like fossils contained internal cellular features that seem to be part of the machinery of photosynthesis. Also, at the center of each cell wall, there are structures similar to that of red algae. Red algae are primitive kind of plants that can be found in marine settings such as coral reefs and freshwater environments.The fossils also represent the oldest-known multicellular organisms called eukaryotes that include plants, fungi and animals.
Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. There is evidence that indicates life first appeared in the form of marine bacteria about 3.7 to 4.2 billion years ago. Much later did plants and then animals appear in the primordial seas.
Image Credit: The Japan Times
