Bacterial fossil structure and preservation

Bacterial cell structure.

For the structure of living bacteria, please see the Wikipedia article w:Bacterial cell structure.

When an organism is fossilized the soft tissue is rarely preserved, this is also the case with bacteria. But fossils have been found, mainly containing the structure of the cell wall, with little evidence of the internal structure.

Resources

• http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/BioBookDiversity_2.html BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: BACTERIA AND ARCHAEANS
• http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/uosc-oaf121906.php Oldest animal fossils may have been bacteria by Carl Marziali
• http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/session_1270.htm AT27. Evaporite Systems II: The Geology, Paleontology, and Biology of Evaporite and Near-Evaporite Systems in Both Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Environments Susan J. Wentworth and Penny A. Morris, Presiding
• http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=25&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Signs of Life in Acid-washed Rocks By: Leslie Mullen
• http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/microfossils.htm Pictures of Microfossils and their living relatives.