Experimental evidence for eukaryotic fossil preservation: Onion skin cells in silica solution

Research on the origin of eukaryotes often focuses on the exceptional preservation found in silicified Precambrian fossils. Nuclei like subcellular structures in well-preserved fossil becomes confusion and arguments, which focus on whether the partial degradation of prokaryotes produces artifacts that resemble a ‘nucleus’, or fossilized nuclei of eukaryotes. In order to understand the mechanisms of silicification and identify the fossilized subcellular and microstructures in rocks, a series of laboratory controlled experiments were performed for simulating the silicification process. The effects of different silica solutions in eukaryote fossilization were studied in our experiments by exposing onion skin cells (epidermis) to silica solutions. Onion skin provides a good experimental model because of its well characterized cellular structures which are easily observed. The designed experiments revealed that the possibility of onion cell preserved as a “fossil” with nuclear structures, the first week fossilization, or mineralization as rapid as 1 week is important. And the experiment also revealed interactions between silica and the onion skin cell wall surface functional groups were weak. The preservation of nuclei in the onion skin model was due to precipitation in highly supersaturated silica solutions rather than simply the high silica concentration. When the silica gel precipitates slowly at low supersaturation states, the nuclei were not well preserved, but the rapid precipitation at high supersaturated silica conditions preserved nuclear structures. A better understanding of the processes involved in onion skin fossilization will further contribute to issues concerning the silicification of other eukaryotic materials.