Hinrichs Lab - ZF - Nettersheim

The cradle of eukaryotic life at unprecedented resolution

Abstract

The cradle of eukaryotic life at unprecedented resolution: Zooming into ecosystem cyclicity 1.6 billion years ago using laser-based high-resolution mass spectrometry

Fossil biological lipids in ancient sediment rocks contain a variety of important information about the evolution of life and the earth system.  However, traditional analyses of precambrian biomarkers are usually based on centimeter scaled rock samples with individual data points spaced from decimeters to hundreds of meters apart (e.g. along a 1000 m deep drill core). Those analyses represent only conditions averaged over centuries or even numerous millenia, severely limiting our understanding of the duration of processes, events and triggering environmental factors.

In this project, biomarker analyses will be performed on intact rock samples with a resolution of 50 micrometers using laser desorption ionization(LDI) coupled to ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) in combination with micro-XRF and other geological methods to obtain high-resolution information.  

I will obtain precambrian biomarker distributions for the first time at the micrometer scale, which greatly increases the spatial and temporal resolution of this information - especially with respect to the appearance of the first eukaryotes.