Amino Acids in an Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrite

Cronin, John R.; Pizzarello, Sandra; Moore, C. B.

doi:10.1126/science.206.4416.335

Cited by 59 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Several samples of these chondrites have been available for organic analyses, and we have shown the presence of extraterrestrial organic compounds, such as amino acids 1985), carboxylic acids (Shimoyama et al, 1986 and1989), and hydrocarbons (Naraoka et al, 1988;Shimoyama et al, 1989) in Yamato-74662 and Yamato 791198. Other researchers also found amino acids from an Allan Hills carbonaceous chon drite (Cronin et al, 1979;Holzer and Oro, 1979;Kotra et al, 1979). These analyses of organic compounds are relevant for studies on chemical evolution in the early solar system as well as on the primitive earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Search for nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica.

1990

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Four CM2 chondrites from Antarctica were analyzed for nucleic acid bases. The Yamato-74662 and Yamato-791198 chondrites gave positive evidence for the presence of guanine, tentative evidence for xanthine, and possibly hypoxanthine. Their individual abundances were in the range of 420 to 30 ng/g in the two chondrites, while no pyrimidines were found. No purines and pyrimidines were found in the Yamato-793321 and Belgica-7904 chondrites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Search for nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica.

1990

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“…It was possible to elute all the analytes in about 44 minutes with a linear temperature .58C/min, followed by isothermal conditions; carrier gas, He; flow rate, 1 ml/min; split ratio, 20:1. Rs values are reported in parentheses for peak numbers as follows: [9] DL-Pro þ DL-Thr, [10] Gly, [11] D-Leu (3.128), [12] L-Leu, [13] [31] L-Trp (bis-cylated), [32] Trp (by-product).…”

Section: Separation On Chirasil-l-valmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chirality DOI 10.1002/chir [7] L-Ala (5.280), [8] D-Ala, [9] DL-Thr (OH-free), [10] L-Leu (1.000), [11] values m/z ¼ 279 for Thr, m/z ¼ 282 for Leu, and m/z ¼ 238 for Ser. In conclusion, it was possible to separate 13 enantiomeric pairs, 9 of which had acceptable Rs values (higher than 1.2).…”

Section: Separation On Chirasil-l-valmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In meteorites found on Earth, amino acids that are common to biological systems are either present in trace amounts (e.g., Ser, Thr) or absent (e.g., Tyr, Phe, Met, Cys, Lys, His, Arg). [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The principal common amino acids detected were Glu, Asp, Pro, Gly, b-Ala, Ile, Leu, Sar, Ala, Val, and rare or uncommon amino acids: a-aminoisobutyric acid, a-amino-n-butyric acid, isovaline, other N-alkyl amino acids and a-dialkyl amino acids, more resistant to racemization phenomena than the a-alkyl amino acids. Therefore most of them were aliphatic amino acids, which are well detected using the proposed 1-step method.…”

Section: Quantitative Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With this aim, detection of chemical biomarkers, i.e., of organic molecules that play an important role in biochemistry, will be one of the main goals of future space missions. Among the key chemical biomarkers on Earth, [1][2][3] amino and carboxylic acids which have been synthesized by experimental simulations under plausible prebiotic conditions, [4][5][6] have been detected in several meteorites [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and in the lunar soil. [14][15][16] Thus, these chemical species appear to be widespread in the solar system, but they can exist without the presence of life.…”

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confidence: 99%

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GC‐MS analysis of amino acid enantiomers as their N(O,S)‐perfluoroacyl perfluoroalkyl esters: Application to space analysis

et al. 2006

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The target of the in-situ research of optical activity in extraterrestrial samples stimulated an extended investigation of a GC-MS method based on the derivatization of amino acids by using a mixture of perfluorinated alcohols and perfluorinated anhydrides. Amino acids are converted to their N(O,S)-perfluoroacyl perfluoroalkyl esters in a single-step procedure, using different combinations of the derivatization reagents trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA)-2,2,2-trifluoro-1-ethanol (TFE), 2,3,3,4,4,, and heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA)-HFB. The derivatives obtained are analyzed using two different chiral columns: Chirasil-L-Val and g-cyclodextrin (Rt-g-DEXsa) stationary phases which show different and complementary enantiomeric selectivity. The mass spectra of the derivatives are studied, and mass fragmentation patterns are proposed: significant fragment ions can be identified to detect amino acid derivatives. The obtained results are compared in terms of the enantiomeric separation achieved and mass spectrometric response. Linearity studies and the measurement of the limit of detection (LOD) show that the proposed method is suitable for a quantitative determination of enantiomers of several amino acids. The use of the programmed temperature vaporiser (PTV) technique for the injection of the untreated reaction mixture is a promising method for avoiding manual treatment of the sample and decreasing the LOD. KEY WORDS: chirality; amino acids; derivatization; GC-MS; in-situ analysis; planetary explorationThe in-situ search for organic molecules in extraterrestrial environments has been proposed for a better understanding of the solar system origin and the emergence of life on Earth. With this aim, detection of chemical biomarkers, i.e., of organic molecules that play an important role in biochemistry, will be one of the main goals of future space missions. Among the key chemical biomarkers on Earth, 1-3 amino and carboxylic acids which have been synthesized by experimental simulations under plausible prebiotic conditions, 4-6 have been detected in several meteorites 7-13 and in the lunar soil. 14-16 Thus, these chemical species appear to be widespread in the solar system, but they can exist without the presence of life. For this reason, the analysis of their optical activity seems to be a good complementary diagnostic tool to identify the link to a biotic or a prebiotic activity. In fact, almost exclusively L-amino acids are incorporated into proteins during microbial biosynthesis, although various D-amino acids have been found in archaea, yeasts, fungi, plants, insects, mollusks, and other eucaryotic organisms. [17][18][19] Because there are no evident biochemical reasons why L-amino acids should be selected over D-amino acids, it is generally assumed that life elsewhere could be based on either L-or D-amino acids, but not both. [20][21][22] Identifying an excess of D-amino acids in an extraterrestrial sample could provide unambiguous evidence for life that evolves independently from the Earth. [23][24] I...

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Extraterrestrial Amino Acids

Martins

Sephton

2009

Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins in Organic Chemistry

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Amino Acids in an Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrite

Cited by 59 publications

References 5 publications

Search for nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica.

Search for nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica.

GC‐MS analysis of amino acid enantiomers as their N(O,S)‐perfluoroacyl perfluoroalkyl esters: Application to space analysis

Extraterrestrial Amino Acids

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