Protists are the dominant eukaryotes in the biosphere where they play key functional roles.
While protists have been studied for over a century, it is the high-throughput sequencing of …

Abstract The Cambrian Explosion by nature is a three-phased explosion of animal body
plans alongside episodic biomineralization, pulsed change of generic diversity, body size …

The role of O2 in the evolution of early animals, as represented by some members of the
Ediacara biota, has been heavily debated because current geochemical evidence paints a …

Two hypotheses for the early radiation of the metazoans are vividly discussed in recent
phylogenomic studies, the 'Porifera-first'hypothesis, which places the poriferans as the sister …

The earliest fossils of animal-like organisms occur in Ediacaran rocks that are approximately
571 million years old. Yet 24-isopropylcholestanes and other C30 fossil sterol molecules …

Nervous systems evolved around 560 million years ago to coordinate and empower animal
bodies. Ctenophores–one of the earliest-branching lineages—are thought to share a few …

Sterane molecular fossils are broadly interpreted as eukaryotic biomarkers, although diverse
bacteria also produce sterols. Steranes with side-chain methylations can act as more …

While there is significant data on eukaryogenesis and the early development of the
eukaryotic lineage, major uncertainties regarding their origins and evolution remain …

The history of molecular oxygen (O2) in Earth's atmosphere is still debated; however,
geological evidence supports at least two major episodes where O2 increased by an order …

Phagocytosis, or 'cell eating', is a eukaryote-specific process where particulate matter is
engulfed via invaginations of the plasma membrane. The origin of phagocytosis has been …