Conducting Miller-Urey Experiments

Parker, Eric T.; Cleaves, James H.; Burton, Aaron S.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Dworkin, Jason P.; Zhou, Manshui; Bada, Jeffrey L.; Fernández, Facundo M.

doi:10.3791/51039

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…For contamination control, we are currently working on the design of an extraction cell that can be heated to 500°C in the presence of oxygen for several hours prior to installation in the extractor in order to further reduce the amino acid background (Parker et al, 2014). Hence, we engineered the current system to be compatible with future higher TRL advancement activities for space applications.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…as well as operational testing in low-pressure/low-temperature ambient environments. For contamination control, we are currently working on the design of an extraction cell that can be heated to 500°C in the presence of oxygen for several hours prior to installation in the extractor in order to further reduce the amino acid background (Parker et al, 2014).…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Subcritical Water Extractor Prototype for Potential Astrobiology Spaceflight Missions

Kehl

Kovarik

Creamer

et al. 2019

Earth and Space Science

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A top-level NASA exploration goal is the search for signs of life beyond Earth. Molecular biosignatures can be sought via in situ organic chemical analyses of samples collected from planetary bodies. Current spaceflight-ready technologies lack the required sensitivity to perform these analyses on key polar organic species primarily due to the low efficiency of transferring these molecules from natural samples into chemical instrumentation. One promising approach to improve the liberation of these molecules from sample matrices prior to analysis is through the use of liquid extraction, in which organic molecules are dissolved in heated, pressurized water. This process has never been performed on a spaceflight mission. As part of instrument maturation efforts, we describe the development of the first spaceflight prototype of a fully automated subcritical water extractor designed to provide this essential functionality on a potential future planetary mission. The prototype extractor was mounted on a Mars test rover platform and successfully operated remotely in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Samples acquired by the rover's drill and sample acquisition/delivery system were remotely transferred to the extractor inlet funnel, and all subsequent extractor operations were performed automatically. To validate the instrument and demonstrate its suitability as a front-end unit for an organic analyzer, we tested low-bioload Atacama Desert soil extracts for amino acid content using capillary electrophoresis coupled to laser-induced fluorescence. We show that hot extraction under subcritical conditions is required to liberate amino acids from the sample, as no amino acids were found in the extract produced at room temperature. Plain Language SummaryThe search for signs of life beyond Earth is one of NASA's highest priorities. One powerful way to look for extraterrestrial life is to perform chemical analyses on planetary samples in order to characterize any organic molecules present. Past and current spaceflight instruments analyze various components in gases collected or gases produced from solid samples; however, the instruments either lack the sensitivity to detect organic molecules or the instruments destroy many of the organic molecules during the preparation required to perform a gas-phase-based measurement. This work presents an automated pressurized hot water extractor that can be used to release organic molecules from a solid sample. Pressurized hot water is a powerful and easy-to-handle solvent for a wide range of different compounds. The extractor acts as a front-end instrument and prepares the sample for highly sensitive, liquid-based analysis. This automated and remotely controlled prototype has been successfully tested on a simulated Mars rover mission in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Extracts of the Atacama soil samples were then analyzed by capillary electrophoresis coupled to laser-induced fluorescence to determine the extracts' amino acid content, as amino acids are an auspicious class of molecules in the search fo...

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Subcritical Water Extractor Prototype for Potential Astrobiology Spaceflight Missions

Kehl

Kovarik

Creamer

et al. 2019

Earth and Space Science

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“…After stopping the reaction, samples were collected and stored frozen until analysis. Full details regarding gas introduction into the 3 L reaction flask, execution of a Miller‐type spark discharge experiment, and collection of samples at the completion of the experiment are based on the protocol outlined in the literature …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitation of α‐hydroxy acids in complex prebiotic mixtures via liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Parker

Cleaves

Bada

et al. 2016

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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“…The environment of present‐day Earth bears little resemblance to what it was like 3.8–4.2 billion years ago, the point in Earth's history when life is thought to have first arisen . Among numerous differences, the early Earth environment has been speculated to have been highly reducing, with similarities to Saturn's moon Titan, or to be at least sufficiently reducing to allow for robust redox chemistry to take place . In either case, the majority of organisms living on the modern Earth would have found the prebiotic environment to be poisonous, having evolved along with the changing environment of the Earth .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Stark Contrast to Modern Earth: Phosphate Mineral Transformation and Nucleoside Phosphorylation in an Iron‐ and Cyanide‐Rich Early Earth Scenario

et al. 2019

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Organophosphates were likely an important class of prebiotic molecules.However,their presence on the early Earth is strongly debated because the low availability of phosphate, which is generally assumed to have been sequestered in insoluble calcium and iron minerals,i sw idely viewed as am ajor barrier to organophosphate generation. Herein, we demonstrate that cyanide (an essential prebiotic precursor) and urea-based solvents could promote nucleoside phosphorylation by transforming insoluble phosphate minerals in a"warm little pond" scenario into more soluble and reactive species. Our results suggest that cyanide and its derivatives (metal cyanide complexes,urea, ammonium formate,and formamide) were key reagents for the participation of phosphorus in chemical evolution. These results allowustopropose aholistic scenario in which an evaporitic environment could concentrate abiotically formed organics and transform the underlying minerals,a llowing significant organic phosphorylation under plausible prebiotic conditions. Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.

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Conducting Miller-Urey Experiments

Cited by 13 publications

References 19 publications

A Subcritical Water Extractor Prototype for Potential Astrobiology Spaceflight Missions

A Subcritical Water Extractor Prototype for Potential Astrobiology Spaceflight Missions

Quantitation of α‐hydroxy acids in complex prebiotic mixtures via liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A Stark Contrast to Modern Earth: Phosphate Mineral Transformation and Nucleoside Phosphorylation in an Iron‐ and Cyanide‐Rich Early Earth Scenario

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