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https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/50/5/562/611752/Implications-for-Ediacaran-biological-evolution

This free article describes macroscopic algae formations and possible animal-like forms in the Lantian formation of south Anhui, China. The Lantian biota in China would represent the oldest known Ediacaran macroscopic eukaryotic fossils. Using what is called a petrographic-guided rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) organic-bearing sedimentary unit study, the authors determined the age of the rocks to be 602 ± 7 Ma. This puts the Lantian biota around early to mid Ediacaran, and it is distinct from other Ediacaran life assemblages. The Lantian biota would be in epi-bethic ecosystems. The 187Os/188Os ratios from the Lantian (1.14 ± 0.02) and other Ediacaran shale rocks indicate high fluctuating redox environments and extensive weathering of upper continental rocks.

Game wise, this was possibly one time frame when small multicellular organisms started to become Macroscopic in size. Perhaps the game could include the possible shapes of the Lantian Biota in early Macroscopic, with larger Ediacaran biota forms from other Ediacaran life assemblages becoming more common later on?

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43

I think it should also be remembered that not all ediacaran-specific forms died out with the arrival of Cambrian; Some apparently survived all the way into Silurian.

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44

While this article isn’t new, it describes Prokaryotes have a form of mating called Spontaneous Zygogenesis (Z-mating), which functions similar to gamete fusion in Eukaryotes. According to the authors, this process seems occurs in bacterial strains that normal lack the F plasmid for bacterial conjugation. These diploid strains are briefly unstable, tending to have parental phenotypes, recombinant phenotypes, or switching phenotypes before becoming stable once again. Most importantly, after stabilization back into haploid strains, these new strains are capable of Z-mating.

From a gameplay standpoint, this could be an alternative way for Prokaryotes to reproduce.

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45

That would mean if reproduction types were to be added to microscopic, they would have to be available for prokaryotes too…

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46

whoa, that’s wild! Honestly, bacteria in general are wild, plasmids are bizarre and I wonder how scientists even manage to sort bacteria into different species

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47

Are archaea even wilder than them?

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48

i don’t even know… archaea haven’t been a huge priority for me to learn about and they’re extremely hard to research because a lot isn’t known about them, or is known only in recent scientific papers. From my limited knowledge, yes, they are at least as weird

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49

Would eukaryotes be bland and boring then?

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50

Comparatively, yeah. There’s still worlds of diversity and strangeness, but less. Thankfully eukaryotes have all multicellular life to look at

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51

Are viruses even more boring than standard eukaryotes or the opposite?

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Last time I checked, scientists still have no idea how to proper classify single-celled Eukaryote organisms which were under Protozoa and Chromista.

Most likely it depends on which viruses we are talking about. For instance, a new virus discovered this year in Uganda called Dinga Dinga causes women to uncontrollably dance.

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53

Neurological viruses are probably the scariest of the bunch…

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54

Fortunately, people can get vaccinated for Rabies after being infected from a bite due to the virus’ long incubation time. Otherwise, Rabies would be even scarier.

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55

Can’t you also be vaccinated for it without having to be infected?

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56

According to a research paper on the Journal of American Society of Microbiology, some probiotic strains of Lactobacillus can actually help the bacteria Clostridioides difficile in causing an infection in the gut of C57BL/6J model mice during antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). Specifically, L. acidophilus NCFM increased C. difficile R20291 growth and prevented restoration of colonization resistance, while Lactobacillus gasseri Lg-36 had the opposite effect. These two Lactobacillus stains are most commonly used in probiotics. L. acidophilus NCFM was also found to increase the presence of members from the Bacteroidaceae family, which is associated with increased C. difficile numbers. L. gasseri Lg-36 has a possible mechanism of inhibition of CDI via production of bacteriocins termed gassericins. L. gasseri Lg-36 also increased population of members of the benetificial Muribaculaceae family, such as ASV17.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01468-25

This is important from a gameplay perspective, since Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea via bacterial infections of the gut could be a major problem in societies that extensively use antibiotics. Finding the proper probiotic strains which combat these gut infections, rather than increasing the gut infections, could be an important research priority.

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57

I suppose some species might first try using bacteriophages before they discover antibiotics…

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58

Or even probiotics first, since some cultures on earth have been eating yogurt for a few thousand years.

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59

Is it guaranteed necessary lineages shall evolve on life-harbouring for yoghurt or phage-therapy to be possible?

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Some sort of food/drink that has beneficial bacteria/archaea would probably be discovered by a sapient species eventually, even if it isn’t yogurt.

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61

I do wonder if microbiome will be implemented into macroscopic+ or left for the strategy stages…

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