Unravelling the molecular taphonomy of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts via infrared spectroscopy
- Author
- Pjotr Meyvisch (UGent) , Hanne François, Kenneth Neil Mertens, Pieter Gurdebeke (UGent) , Vera Pospelova, Gerard J. M. Versteegh, Kasia K. Śliwińska, Vânia Correia, Mariusz Niechwedowicz, Francesca Sangiorgi, Viktória Baranyi, Manuel Bringué, Henk Vrielinck (UGent) and Stephen Louwye (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Dinoflagellates are an extant group of unicellular, eukaryotic microalgae occurring in a wide range of aquatic environments. They can form resistant, organic-walled resting stages (dinocysts); the earliest body fossils appear in the Middle Triassic. Dinocyst walls are composed of a heavily cross-linked, nitrogenous, cellulose-like carbohydrate, ‘dinosporin’, which is compositionally distinct from other resistant biomacromolecules such as sporopollenin (pollen and spores) and algaenan (green algae). Macromolecular analyses of modern dinosporin via attenuated total reflection micro-Fourier transform infrared (ATR micro-FTIR) spectroscopy revealed a variable compound: sometimes strongly influenced by the presence of brown colour-inducing (possibly eumelanin) pigments, or with additional aromatic (‘sporopollenin-like’) or aliphatic (‘algaenan-like’) moieties. Here, ATR micro-FTIR spectroscopy was used to collect a large dataset from a wide range of Meso- and Cenozoic dinocysts, to investigate their molecular taphonomy. These data reveal an expected increase in the aliphaticity of dinosporin over time, likely related to early-diagenetic in situ polymerization of lipids. Furthermore, modern dinosporin variability was detected in fossil dinocysts up to the late Paleocene, highlighting the palaeoecological and taxonomical value of these chemospecific signatures. Finally, it is hypothesised that some dinosporin types might be better suited for low-salinity (aliphatic type) or high-UV (pigmented and aromatic types) aquatic environments.
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HBGDJG14H2N740N02B9268PC
- MLA
- Meyvisch, Pjotr, et al. “Unravelling the Molecular Taphonomy of Organic-Walled Dinoflagellate Cysts via Infrared Spectroscopy.” Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual Meeting, Abstracts, 2023.
- APA
- Meyvisch, P., François, H., Mertens, K. N., Gurdebeke, P., Pospelova, V., Versteegh, G. J. M., … Louwye, S. (2023). Unravelling the molecular taphonomy of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts via infrared spectroscopy. Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual Meeting, Abstracts. Presented at the The Palaeontological Association - Annual Meeting (PalAss) 2023, Cambridge, England.
- Chicago author-date
- Meyvisch, Pjotr, Hanne François, Kenneth Neil Mertens, Pieter Gurdebeke, Vera Pospelova, Gerard J. M. Versteegh, Kasia K. Śliwińska, et al. 2023. “Unravelling the Molecular Taphonomy of Organic-Walled Dinoflagellate Cysts via Infrared Spectroscopy.” In Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual Meeting, Abstracts.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Meyvisch, Pjotr, Hanne François, Kenneth Neil Mertens, Pieter Gurdebeke, Vera Pospelova, Gerard J. M. Versteegh, Kasia K. Śliwińska, Vânia Correia, Mariusz Niechwedowicz, Francesca Sangiorgi, Viktória Baranyi, Manuel Bringué, Henk Vrielinck, and Stephen Louwye. 2023. “Unravelling the Molecular Taphonomy of Organic-Walled Dinoflagellate Cysts via Infrared Spectroscopy.” In Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual Meeting, Abstracts.
- Vancouver
- 1.Meyvisch P, François H, Mertens KN, Gurdebeke P, Pospelova V, Versteegh GJM, et al. Unravelling the molecular taphonomy of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts via infrared spectroscopy. In: Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual meeting, Abstracts. 2023.
- IEEE
- [1]P. Meyvisch et al., “Unravelling the molecular taphonomy of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts via infrared spectroscopy,” in Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual meeting, Abstracts, Cambridge, England, 2023.
@inproceedings{01HBGDJG14H2N740N02B9268PC,
abstract = {{Dinoflagellates are an extant group of unicellular, eukaryotic microalgae occurring in a wide range of aquatic environments. They can form resistant, organic-walled resting stages (dinocysts); the earliest body fossils appear in the Middle Triassic. Dinocyst walls are composed of a heavily cross-linked, nitrogenous, cellulose-like carbohydrate, ‘dinosporin’, which is compositionally distinct from other resistant biomacromolecules such as sporopollenin (pollen and spores) and algaenan (green algae). Macromolecular analyses of modern dinosporin via attenuated total reflection micro-Fourier transform infrared (ATR micro-FTIR) spectroscopy revealed a variable compound: sometimes strongly influenced by the presence of brown colour-inducing (possibly eumelanin) pigments, or with additional aromatic (‘sporopollenin-like’) or aliphatic (‘algaenan-like’) moieties.
Here, ATR micro-FTIR spectroscopy was used to collect a large dataset from a wide range of Meso- and Cenozoic dinocysts, to investigate their molecular taphonomy. These data reveal an expected increase in the aliphaticity of dinosporin over time, likely related to early-diagenetic in situ polymerization of lipids. Furthermore, modern dinosporin variability was detected in fossil dinocysts up to the late Paleocene, highlighting the palaeoecological and taxonomical value of these chemospecific signatures. Finally, it is hypothesised that some dinosporin types might be better suited for low-salinity (aliphatic type) or high-UV (pigmented and aromatic types) aquatic environments.}},
author = {{Meyvisch, Pjotr and François, Hanne and Mertens, Kenneth Neil and Gurdebeke, Pieter and Pospelova, Vera and Versteegh, Gerard J. M. and Śliwińska, Kasia K. and Correia, Vânia and Niechwedowicz, Mariusz and Sangiorgi, Francesca and Baranyi, Viktória and Bringué, Manuel and Vrielinck, Henk and Louwye, Stephen}},
booktitle = {{Palaeontological Association, 67th Annual meeting, Abstracts}},
language = {{eng}},
location = {{Cambridge, England}},
pages = {{1}},
title = {{Unravelling the molecular taphonomy of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts via infrared spectroscopy}},
year = {{2023}},
}