Did These Microbes Eat A Lot of the Fossil Record?

A study in Current Biology found that collagen-eating microbes evolved in anaerobic environments before becoming prevalent in oxygenated oceans. This shift allowed bacteria to degrade the collagen-based soft tissues of Ediacaran organisms, causing a significant drop in fossil preservation. The research analyzed 700 bacterial genomes to trace the evolutionary history of collagenases, explaining why complex soft-bodied life from 579 to 539 million years ago left abundant fossils before microbial degradation increased.

Source: Did These Microbes Eat A Lot of the Fossil Record? — Nautilus

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