Amino Acid Composition of Planktonic Foraminifera: A Paleobiochemical Approach to Evolution
- 31 March 1972
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 175 (4029) , 1461-1463
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.175.4029.1461
Abstract
A unique, species-specific amino acid composition is identified with each of 16 species of planktonic Foraminifera isolated from the tops of deep-sea sediment cores. This amino acid pattern appears to directly reflect the genotype. The total amino acid content ranges from 2.0 to 4.2 micromoles per gram of calcified tissue or 0.02 to 0.04 percent by weight. Analyses of two Early Miocene species indicate that characteristic compositional differences are sufficiently well preserved over geologic time to determine phylogenetic affinities among extinct species living at least 18 million years ago.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Paleobiochemistry of molluscan shell proteinsComparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 1967
- Biogeochemistry of organic matter—II Thermal reaction kinetics and transformation products of amino compoundsGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1964
- Planktonic Foraminiferal Species in Pacific SedimentsMicropaleontology, 1962