Were Doushantuo embryos bacteria?

[Roberto Takata <rmtakata@gmail.com>]

Evidence of giant sulphur bacteria in Neoproterozoic phosphorites
Jake V. Bailey, Samantha B. Joye, Karen M. Kalanetra, Beverly E. Flood
& Frank A. Corsetti
Nature 445, 198-201. doi:10.1038/nature05457
"In situ phosphatization1 and reductive cell division have recently
been discovered within the vacuolate sulphur-oxidizing bacteria. Here
we show that certain Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation (about 600
million years BP) microfossils, including structures previously
interpreted as the oldest known metazoan eggs and embryos, can be
interpreted as giant vacuolate sulphur bacteria. Sulphur bacteria of
the genus Thiomargarita have sizes and morphologies similar to those
of many Doushantuo microfossils, including symmetrical cell clusters
that result from multiple stages of reductive division in three
planes. We also propose that Doushantuo phosphorite precipitation was
mediated by these bacteria, as shown in modern
Thiomargarita-associated phosphogenic sites, thus providing the
taphonomic conditions that preserved other fossils known from the
Doushantuo Formation."
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7124/full/nature05457.html
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Roberto Takata