The carbon skeleton of lipids is chemically stable and, at least for the polycyclic compounds, only poorly biodegradable. Their molecular fossils are therefore ubiquitously found in the organic matter of sediments and are sufficiently well preserved to yield possible information on the living organisms which synthesized them and, depending on the structural modifications, on the diagenetic processes in the sediment.
Acyclic lipidic biomarkers from prokaryotes usually yield little precise information on the producting microorganisms, except for modern sediments where information on double bond positions and methyl branches in fatty acids can provide useful information (Perry et al., 1979). Isoprenoid chains derived from the phytanyl and biphytanyl phospholipids can also be used as indicators of archaebacteria. Polycyclic isoprenoids are much more informative. As sterols are only exceptionally present in prokaryotes (Ourisson and Rohmer, 1982), their presence reflects an input from...
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Rohmer, M. (1998). Biomarker: Lipid, bacterial chemical fossils. In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_31
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