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Reassessment of roles of oxygen and ultraviolet light in Precambrian evolution

Nature volume 264, pages 620–624 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

The rise of atmospheric oxygen occurred long before the sudden appearance of multicellular eukaryotic organisms in the later Precambrian. Oxygen was necessary but not sufficient for the evolution of multicellular eukaryotes: the rise of modern aerobic eukaryotes (fungi, animals and plants) occurred in a fully oxygenic atmosphere only after the evolution in protists of microtubule-utilising processes (mitosis and meiosis).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215

    Lynn Margulis

  2. National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 00612

    J. C. G. Walker

  3. Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215

    Mitchell Rambler

Authors
  1. Lynn Margulis
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  2. J. C. G. Walker
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  3. Mitchell Rambler
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Margulis, L., Walker, J. & Rambler, M. Reassessment of roles of oxygen and ultraviolet light in Precambrian evolution. Nature 264, 620–624 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264620a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264620a0

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