Primary Step Towards In Situ Detection of Chemical Biomarkers in the UNIVERSE via Liquid-Based Analytical System: Development of an Automated Online Trapping/Liquid Chromatography System

Abstract

The search for biomarkers in our solar system is a fundamental challenge for the space research community. It encompasses major difficulties linked to their very low concentration levels, their ambiguous origins (biotic or abiotic), as well as their diversity and complexity. Even if, in 40 years’ time, great improvements in sample pre-treatment, chromatographic separation and mass spectrometry detection have been achieved, there is still a need for new in situ scientific instrumentation. This work presents an original liquid chromatographic system with a trapping unit dedicated to the one-pot detection of a large set of non-volatile extra-terrestrial compounds. It is composed of two units, monitored by a single pump. The first unit is an online trapping unit able to trap polar, apolar, monomeric and polymeric organics. The second unit is an online analytical unit with a high-resolution Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. The designed single pump system was as efficient as a laboratory dual-trap LC system for the analysis of amino acids, nucleobases and oligopeptides. The overall setup significantly improves sensitivity, providing limits of detection ranging from ppb to ppt levels, thus meeting with in situ enquiries.

In situ organic biosignature detection techniques for space applications

“…For example, benchtop LC-MS was used to detect amino acids, dipeptides, and sugars from a cometary ice analog (Eddhif et al, 2018). A similar study that also incorporated a trap-column prior to separation, also known as column-switching methodology, showed that amino acids, oligopeptides, and nucleobases could be separated and detected at approximately 1 μg/L (Ribette et al, 2019). Liu et al (2008) used ion-pair reversed-phase LC coupled with MS to detect underivatized amino acids with instrument LODs ranging from 3 μg/L to 800 μg/L.…”

Fast Degradation of Hydrogen Peroxide by Immobilized Catalase to Enable the Use of Biosensors in Extraterrestrial Bodies

“…However, the environment believed to exist on Europa and Enceladus may also hinder the implementation of this approach because the H 2 O 2 could interfere with the breakdown of organic molecules during the pyrolysis step (Benner et al, 2000;Navarro-González et al, 2006). To address this limitation, a number of liquid-based analytical techniques have been proposed (Blanco et al, 2017;Ribette et al, 2019). Out of those, immunoassays, electrochemical sensors (Thomson et al, 2020), and microfluidic capillary electrophoresis technologies hold the most promise in terms of power requirement, weight, sensitivity, and ability to detect biomarkers in model systems (Derveni et al, 2012;Sims et al, 2012;Willis et al, 2012;Butterworth et al, 2015;Mathies et al, 2017Mathies et al, , 2019Moreno-Paz et al, 2018;García-Descalzo et al, 2019;Lezcano et al, 2019).…”