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Rodriguez LE, Altair T, Hermis NY, Jia TZ, Roche TP, Steller LH, Weber JM. Chapter 4: A Geological and Chemical Context for the Origins of Life on Early Earth. ASTROBIOLOGY 2024; 24:S76-S106. [PMID: 38498817 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Within the first billion years of Earth's history, the planet transformed from a hot, barren, and inhospitable landscape to an environment conducive to the emergence and persistence of life. This chapter will review the state of knowledge concerning early Earth's (Hadean/Eoarchean) geochemical environment, including the origin and composition of the planet's moon, crust, oceans, atmosphere, and organic content. It will also discuss abiotic geochemical cycling of the CHONPS elements and how these species could have been converted to biologically relevant building blocks, polymers, and chemical networks. Proposed environments for abiogenesis events are also described and evaluated. An understanding of the geochemical processes under which life may have emerged can better inform our assessment of the habitability of other worlds, the potential complexity that abiotic chemistry can achieve (which has implications for putative biosignatures), and the possibility for biochemistries that are vastly different from those on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura E Rodriguez
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, Texas, USA. (Current)
| | - Thiago Altair
- Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil
- Department of Chemistry, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA. (Current)
| | - Ninos Y Hermis
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Department of Physics and Space Sciences, University of Granada, Granada Spain. (Current)
| | - Tony Z Jia
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Tyler P Roche
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Luke H Steller
- Australian Centre for Astrobiology, and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia
| | - Jessica M Weber
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
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2
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Ravanbodshirazi S, Boutfol T, Safaridehkohneh N, Finkler M, Mohammadi-Kambs M, Ott A. The Nature of the Spark Is a Pivotal Element in the Design of a Miller-Urey Experiment. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:2201. [PMID: 38004341 PMCID: PMC10672138 DOI: 10.3390/life13112201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Miller and Urey applied electric sparks to a reducive mixture of CH4, NH3, and water to obtain a complex organic mixture including biomolecules. In this study, we examined the impact of temperature, initial pressure, ammonia concentration, and the spark generator on the chemical profile of a Miller-Urey-type prebiotic broth. We analyzed the broth composition using Gas Chromatography combined with Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS). The results point towards strong compositional changes with the nature of the spark. Ammonia exhibited catalytic properties even with non-nitrogen-containing compounds. A more elevated temperature led to a higher variety of substances. We conclude that to reproduce such a broth as well as possible, all the studied parameters need to be tightly controlled, the most difficult and important being spark generation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Albrecht Ott
- Biological Experimental Physics, Center for Biophysics, Faculity of Natural Sciences and Technology, Saarland University, Campus B2 1, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany; (S.R.)
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3
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Nogal N, Sanz-Sánchez M, Vela-Gallego S, Ruiz-Mirazo K, de la Escosura A. The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry. Chem Soc Rev 2023; 52:7359-7388. [PMID: 37855729 PMCID: PMC10614573 DOI: 10.1039/d3cs00594a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
The field of prebiotic chemistry has been dedicated over decades to finding abiotic routes towards the molecular components of life. There is nowadays a handful of prebiotically plausible scenarios that enable the laboratory synthesis of most amino acids, fatty acids, simple sugars, nucleotides and core metabolites of extant living organisms. The major bottleneck then seems to be the self-organization of those building blocks into systems that can self-sustain. The purpose of this tutorial review is having a close look, guided by experimental research, into the main synthetic pathways of prebiotic chemistry, suggesting how they could be wired through common intermediates and catalytic cycles, as well as how recursively changing conditions could help them engage in self-organized and dissipative networks/assemblies (i.e., systems that consume chemical or physical energy from their environment to maintain their internal organization in a dynamic steady state out of equilibrium). In the article we also pay attention to the implications of this view for the emergence of homochirality. The revealed connectivity between those prebiotic routes should constitute the basis for a robust research program towards the bottom-up implementation of protometabolic systems, taken as a central part of the origins-of-life problem. In addition, this approach should foster further exploration of control mechanisms to tame the combinatorial explosion that typically occurs in mixtures of various reactive precursors, thus regulating the functional integration of their respective chemistries into self-sustaining protocellular assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemí Nogal
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marcos Sanz-Sánchez
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Sonia Vela-Gallego
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo
- Biofisika Institute (CSIC, UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
- Department of Philosophy, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
| | - Andrés de la Escosura
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
- Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IAdChem), Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
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4
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Omran A, Gonzalez A, Menor-Salvan C, Gaylor M, Wang J, Leszczynski J, Feng T. Serpentinization-Associated Mineral Catalysis of the Protometabolic Formose System. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:1297. [PMID: 37374080 DOI: 10.3390/life13061297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The formose reaction is a plausible prebiotic chemistry, famed for its production of sugars. In this work, we demonstrate that the Cannizzaro process is the dominant process in the formose reaction under many different conditions, thus necessitating a catalyst for the formose reaction under various environmental circumstances. The investigated formose reactions produce primarily organic acids associated with metabolism, a protometabolic system, and yield very little sugar left over. This is due to many of the acids forming from the degradation and Cannizaro reactions of many of the sugars produced during the formose reaction. We also show the heterogeneous Lewis-acid-based catalysis of the formose reaction by mineral systems associated with serpentinization. The minerals that showed catalytic activity include olivine, serpentinite, and calcium, and magnesium minerals including dolomite, calcite, and our Ca/Mg-chemical gardens. In addition, computational studies were performed for the first step of the formose reaction to investigate the reaction of formaldehyde, to either form methanol and formic acid under a Cannizzaro reaction or to react to form glycolaldehyde. Here, we postulate that serpentinization is therefore the startup process necessary to kick off a simple proto metabolic system-the formose protometabolic system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Omran
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA
- Department of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
| | - Asbell Gonzalez
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA
| | - Cesar Menor-Salvan
- Departmento de Biologia de Sistemas, Universidad de Alcala, 28805 Alcala de Henares, Spain
| | - Michael Gaylor
- Analytical Sciences, Small Molecules Technologies, Bayer U.S., Saint Louis, MO 63167, USA
| | - Jing Wang
- Department of Chemistry, Physics and Atmospheric Sciences, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA
| | - Jerzy Leszczynski
- Department of Chemistry, Physics and Atmospheric Sciences, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA
| | - Tian Feng
- Department of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
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5
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Kobayashi K, Ise JI, Aoki R, Kinoshita M, Naito K, Udo T, Kunwar B, Takahashi JI, Shibata H, Mita H, Fukuda H, Oguri Y, Kawamura K, Kebukawa Y, Airapetian VS. Formation of Amino Acids and Carboxylic Acids in Weakly Reducing Planetary Atmospheres by Solar Energetic Particles from the Young Sun. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:life13051103. [PMID: 37240748 DOI: 10.3390/life13051103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon; however, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity of its chemistry are poorly known. A better understanding of various environmental conditions, including global (heliospheric) and local (atmospheric, surface, and oceanic), along with the internal dynamic conditions of the early Earth, are required to understand the onset of abiogenesis. Herein, we examine the contributions of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) associated with superflares from the young Sun to the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids in weakly reduced gas mixtures representing the early Earth's atmosphere. We also compare the products with those introduced by lightning events and solar ultraviolet light (UV). In a series of laboratory experiments, we detected and characterized the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids via proton irradiation of a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and water in various mixing ratios. These experiments show the detection of amino acids after acid hydrolysis when 0.5% (v/v) of initial methane was introduced to the gas mixture. In the set of experiments with spark discharges (simulation of lightning flashes) performed for the same gas mixture, we found that at least 15% methane was required to detect the formation of amino acids, and no amino acids were detected in experiments via UV irradiation, even when 50% methane was used. Carboxylic acids were formed in non-reducing gas mixtures (0% methane) by proton irradiation and spark discharges. Hence, we suggest that GCRs and SEP events from the young Sun represent the most effective energy sources for the prebiotic formation of biologically important organic compounds from weakly reducing atmospheres. Since the energy flux of space weather, which generated frequent SEPs from the young Sun in the first 600 million years after the birth of the solar system, was expected to be much greater than that of GCRs, we conclude that SEP-driven energetic protons are the most promising energy sources for the prebiotic production of bioorganic compounds in the atmosphere of the Hadean Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kensei Kobayashi
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichi Ise
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Ryohei Aoki
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Miei Kinoshita
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Koki Naito
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Takumi Udo
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Bhagawati Kunwar
- Chubu Institute of Advanced Studies, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai 487-8501, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichi Takahashi
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Hiromi Shibata
- SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Ibaraki 567-0047, Japan
| | - Hajime Mita
- Department of Life, Environment and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Fukuoka 811-0295, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Fukuda
- Open Facility Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Oguri
- Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kimitaka Kawamura
- Chubu Institute of Advanced Studies, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai 487-8501, Japan
| | - Yoko Kebukawa
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Vladimir S Airapetian
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Sellers Exoplanetary Environments Collaboration, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Department of Physics, American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
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6
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Zhang Z, Jiang H, Ju P, Pan L, Rouillard J, Zhou G, Huang F, Hao J. Evaluating the abiotic synthesis potential and the stability of building blocks of life beneath an impact-induced steam atmosphere. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1032073. [PMID: 37089554 PMCID: PMC10116804 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1032073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
A prerequisite for prebiotic chemistry is the accumulation of critical building blocks of life. Some studies argue that more frequent impact events on the primitive Earth could have induced a more reducing steam atmosphere and thus favor widespread and more efficient synthesis of life building blocks. However, elevated temperature is also proposed to threaten the stability of organics and whether life building blocks could accumulate to appreciable levels in the reducing yet hot surface seawater beneath the steam atmosphere is still poorly examined. Here, we used a thermodynamic tool to examine the synthesis affinity of various life building blocks using inorganic gasses as reactants at elevated temperatures and corresponding steam pressures relevant with the steam-seawater interface. Our calculations show that although the synthesis affinity of all life building blocks decreases when temperature increases, many organics, including methane, methanol, and carboxylic acids, have positive synthesis affinity over a wide range of temperatures, implying that these species were favorable to form (>10-6 molal) in the surface seawater. However, cyanide and formaldehyde have overall negative affinities, suggesting that these critical compounds would tend to undergo hydrolysis in the surface seawaters. Most of the 18 investigated amino acids have positive affinities at temperature <220°C and their synthesis affinity increases under more alkaline conditions. Sugars, ribose, and nucleobases have overall negative synthesis affinities at the investigated range of temperatures. Synthesis affinities are shown to be sensitive to the hydrogen fugacity. Higher hydrogen fugacity (in equilibrium with FQI or IW) favors the synthesis and accumulation of nearly all the investigated compounds, except for HCN and its derivate products. In summary, our results suggest that reducing conditions induced by primitive impacts could indeed favor the synthesis/accumulation of some life building blocks, but some critical species, particularly HCN and nucleosides, were still unfavorable to accumulate to appreciable levels. Our results can provide helpful guidance for future efforts to search for or understand the stability of biomolecules on other planets like Mars and icy moons. We advocate examining craters formed by more reducing impactors to look for the preservation of prebiotic materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongbin Zhang
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Haofan Jiang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Pengcheng Ju
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
| | - Lu Pan
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Joti Rouillard
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Gentao Zhou
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Fang Huang
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Jihua Hao
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, Anhui, China
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Barge LM, Rodriguez LE, Weber JM, Theiling BP. Determining the "Biosignature Threshold" for Life Detection on Biotic, Abiotic, or Prebiotic Worlds. ASTROBIOLOGY 2022; 22:481-493. [PMID: 34898272 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The field of prebiotic chemistry has demonstrated that complex organic chemical systems that exhibit various life-like properties can be produced abiotically in the laboratory. Understanding these chemical systems is important for astrobiology and life detection since we do not know the extent to which prebiotic chemistry might exist or have existed on other worlds. Nor do we know what signatures are diagnostic of an extant or "failed" prebiotic system. On Earth, biology has suppressed most abiotic organic chemistry and overprints geologic records of prebiotic chemistry; therefore, it is difficult to validate whether chemical signatures from future planetary missions are remnant or extant prebiotic systems. The "biosignature threshold" between whether a chemical signature is more likely to be produced by abiotic versus biotic chemistry on a given world could vary significantly, depending on the particular environment, and could change over time, especially if life were to emerge and diversify on that world. To interpret organic signatures detected during a planetary mission, we advocate for (1) gaining a more complete understanding of prebiotic/abiotic chemical possibilities in diverse planetary environments and (2) involving experimental prebiotic samples as analogues when generating comparison libraries for "life-detection" mission instruments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Laura E Rodriguez
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Jessica M Weber
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
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Criado-Reyes J, Bizzarri BM, García-Ruiz JM, Saladino R, Di Mauro E. The role of borosilicate glass in Miller-Urey experiment. Sci Rep 2021; 11:21009. [PMID: 34697338 PMCID: PMC8545935 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00235-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We have designed a set of experiments to test the role of borosilicate reactor on the yielding of the Miller-Urey type of experiment. Two experiments were performed in borosilicate flasks, two in a Teflon flask and the third couple in a Teflon flask with pieces of borosilicate submerged in the water. The experiments were performed in CH4, N2, and NH3 atmosphere either buffered at pH 8.7 with NH4Cl or unbuffered solutions at pH ca. 11, at room temperature. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy results show important differences in the yields, the number of products, and molecular weight. In particular, a dipeptide, multi-carbon dicarboxylic acids, PAHs, and a complete panel of biological nucleobases form more efficiently or exclusively in the borosilicate vessel. Our results offer a better explanation of the famous Miller's experiment showing the efficiency of borosilicate in a triphasic system including water and the reduced Miller-Urey atmosphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joaquín Criado-Reyes
- Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad de Granada, Avenida de las Palmeras 4, Armilla, 18100, Granada, Spain
| | - Bruno M Bizzarri
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Juan Manuel García-Ruiz
- Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad de Granada, Avenida de las Palmeras 4, Armilla, 18100, Granada, Spain.
| | - Raffaele Saladino
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy.
| | - Ernesto Di Mauro
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy
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Gebauer S, Grenfell JL, Lammer H, de Vera JPP, Sproß L, Airapetian VS, Sinnhuber M, Rauer H. Atmospheric Nitrogen When Life Evolved on Earth. ASTROBIOLOGY 2020; 20:1413-1426. [PMID: 33121251 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2019.2212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The amount of nitrogen (N2) present in the atmosphere when life evolved on our planet is central for understanding the production of prebiotic molecules and, hence, is a fundamental quantity to constrain. Estimates of atmospheric molecular nitrogen partial surface pressures during the Archean, however, widely vary in the literature. In this study, we apply a model that combines newly gained insights into atmospheric escape, magma ocean duration, and outgassing evolution. Results suggest <420 mbar surface molecular nitrogen at the time when life originated, which is much lower compared with estimates in previous works and hence could impact our understanding of the production rate of prebiotic molecules such as hydrogen cyanide. Our revised values provide new input for atmospheric chamber experiments that simulate prebiotic chemistry on the early Earth. Our results that assume negligible nitrogen escape rates are in agreement with research based on solidified gas bubbles and the oxidation of iron in micrometeorites at 2.7 Gyr ago, which suggest that the atmospheric pressure was probably less than half the present-day value. Our results contradict previous studies that assume N2 partial surface pressures during the Archean were higher than those observed today and suggest that, if the N2 partial pressure were low in the Archean, it would likely be low in the Hadean as well. Furthermore, our results imply a biogenic nitrogen fixation rate from 9 to 14 Teragram N2 per year (Tg N2/year), which is consistent with modern marine biofixation rates and, hence, indicate an oceanic origin of this fixation process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefanie Gebauer
- Institute for Planetary Research (PF), German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Berlin, Germany
| | - John Lee Grenfell
- Institute for Planetary Research (PF), German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Helmut Lammer
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
| | | | - Laurenz Sproß
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
- Institute for Physics, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Vladimir S Airapetian
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
- American University, NW Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Miriam Sinnhuber
- Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Heike Rauer
- Institute for Planetary Research (PF), German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Geological Sciences, Planetology and Remote Sensing, Freie Universität Berlin (FUB), Berlin, Germany
- Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Berlin, Germany
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10
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Bizzarri BM, Manini P, Lino V, d'Ischia M, Kapralov M, Krasavin E, Mráziková K, Šponer J, Šponer JE, Di Mauro E, Saladino R. High‐Energy Proton‐Beam‐Induced Polymerization/Oxygenation of Hydroxynaphthalenes on Meteorites and Nitrogen Transfer from Urea: Modeling Insoluble Organic Matter? Chemistry 2020; 26:14919-14928. [DOI: 10.1002/chem.202002318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Revised: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Mattia Bizzarri
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB) University of Tuscia Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc 01100 Viterbo Italy
| | - Paola Manini
- Department of Chemical Sciences University of Naples Federico II Campus Monte S. Angelo Via Cinthia 21 80126 Naples Italy
| | - Valeria Lino
- Department of Chemical Sciences University of Naples Federico II Campus Monte S. Angelo Via Cinthia 21 80126 Naples Italy
| | - Marco d'Ischia
- Department of Chemical Sciences University of Naples Federico II Campus Monte S. Angelo Via Cinthia 21 80126 Naples Italy
| | - Michail Kapralov
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Research JINR's Laboratory of Radiation Biology Dubna Russia
| | - Eugene Krasavin
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Research JINR's Laboratory of Radiation Biology Dubna Russia
| | - Klaudia Mráziková
- Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Královopolská 135 61265 Brno Czech Republic
| | - Jiří Šponer
- Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Královopolská 135 61265 Brno Czech Republic
| | - Judit E. Šponer
- Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Královopolská 135 61265 Brno Czech Republic
| | - Ernesto Di Mauro
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB) University of Tuscia Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc 01100 Viterbo Italy
| | - Raffaele Saladino
- Ecological and Biological Sciences Department (DEB) University of Tuscia Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc 01100 Viterbo Italy
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11
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Ghoshal S, Pramanik A, Sarkar P. Theoretical Investigations on the Possibility of Prebiotic HCN Formation via O-Addition Reactions. J Phys Chem A 2020; 124:4782-4792. [PMID: 32401514 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.0c02538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Until now, reactions between methane photolysis products (CH3•, CH2) and active N atom or reactive NO radical are proposed as routes of HCN formation in the prebiotic Earth. Scientists think that the reducing atmosphere of primitive Earth was made of H2, He, N2, NO, CH4, H2O, CO2, etc., and there was no molecular oxygen. However, it has been evident from experiments that the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photolysis of CO2 can produce atomic oxygen. Therefore, it can be presumed that atomic oxygen was likely present in early Earth's atmosphere. Was there any impact of atomic oxygen in production of early atmospheric HCN for the emergence of life? To hunt for the answer, we have employed computational methods to study the mechanism and kinetics of CH3NO + O(1D) and CH2NO• + O(3P) addition reactions. Current study suggests that the addition of O(1D) into nitrosomethane (CH3NO) and the addition of O(3P) into nitrosomethylene radical (CH2NO•) can efficiently produce HCN through an effectively barrierless pathway. At STP, Bartis-Widom phenomenological loss rate coefficients of O(1D) and O(3P) are obtained as 2.47 × 10-12 and 4.67 × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively. We propose that addition reactions of atomic oxygen with CH3NO and CH2NO• might act as a potential source for early atmospheric HCN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sourav Ghoshal
- Department of Chemistry, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan-731235, India
| | - Anup Pramanik
- Department of Chemistry, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan-731235, India.,Department of Chemistry, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia-723104, India
| | - Pranab Sarkar
- Department of Chemistry, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan-731235, India
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Okamura H, Crisp A, Hübner S, Becker S, Rovó P, Carell T. Proto-Urea-RNA (Wöhler RNA) Containing Unusually Stable Urea Nucleosides. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019; 58:18691-18696. [PMID: 31573740 PMCID: PMC6916321 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201911746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The RNA world hypothesis assumes that life on Earth began with nucleotides that formed information-carrying RNA oligomers able to self-replicate. Prebiotic reactions leading to the contemporary nucleosides are now known, but their execution often requires specific starting materials and lengthy reaction sequences. It was therefore proposed that the RNA world was likely proceeded by a proto-RNA world constructed from molecules that were likely present on the early Earth in greater abundance. Herein, we show that the prebiotic starting molecules bis-urea (biuret) and tris-urea (triuret) are able to directly react with ribose. The urea-ribosides are remarkably stable because they are held together by a network of intramolecular, bifurcated hydrogen bonds. This even allowed the synthesis of phosphoramidite building blocks and incorporation of the units into RNA. Investigations of the nucleotides' base-pairing potential showed that triuret:G RNA base pairs closely resemble U:G wobble base pairs. Based on the probable abundance of urea on the early Earth, we postulate that urea-containing RNA bases are good candidates for a proto-RNA world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hidenori Okamura
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
| | - Antony Crisp
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
| | - Sarah Hübner
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
| | - Sidney Becker
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
| | - Petra Rovó
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
| | - Thomas Carell
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPS) at the Department of ChemistryLMU MünchenButenandtstr. 5–1381377MünchenGermany
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Pflieger R, Fayard E, Noel C, Nikitenko SI, Belmonte T. Molecular emissions in sonoluminescence spectra of water sonicated under Ar-based gas mixtures. ULTRASONICS SONOCHEMISTRY 2019; 58:104637. [PMID: 31450313 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2019.104637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2019] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Sonoluminescence (SL) spectroscopy is one of the very few ways to study the plasma formed in solutions submitted to ultrasound. Unfortunately, up to now only very limited emission bands were reported in SL spectra of aqueous solutions, moreover broad and badly resolved. It is shown here that by adding some N2 and/or CO2 in Ar, new molecular emissions (CN, N2 and CO) can be observed and that for some of them rovibronic temperatures can be derived. The paramount importance of Stark broadening in these emissions is underlined, together with the need for data on Stark parameters for molecular emissions.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Pflieger
- Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, ICSM UMR 5257 - CEA, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, ENSCM, Bagnols-sur-Cèze Cedex, France.
| | - E Fayard
- Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, ICSM UMR 5257 - CEA, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, ENSCM, Bagnols-sur-Cèze Cedex, France
| | - C Noel
- Université de Lorraine, Institut Jean Lamour, UMR CNRS 7198, Nancy, France
| | - S I Nikitenko
- Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, ICSM UMR 5257 - CEA, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, ENSCM, Bagnols-sur-Cèze Cedex, France
| | - T Belmonte
- Université de Lorraine, Institut Jean Lamour, UMR CNRS 7198, Nancy, France
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14
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Okamura H, Crisp A, Hübner S, Becker S, Rovó P, Carell T. Proto‐Urea‐RNA (Wöhler RNA) Containing Unusually Stable Urea Nucleosides. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201911746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hidenori Okamura
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
| | - Antony Crisp
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
| | - Sarah Hübner
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
| | - Sidney Becker
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
| | - Petra Rovó
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
| | - Thomas Carell
- Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of ChemistryLMU München Butenandtstr. 5–13 81377 München Germany
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Das T, Ghule S, Vanka K. Insights Into the Origin of Life: Did It Begin from HCN and H 2O? ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2019; 5:1532-1540. [PMID: 31572780 PMCID: PMC6764159 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b00520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The seminal Urey-Miller experiments showed that molecules crucial to life such as HCN could have formed in the reducing atmosphere of the Hadean Earth and then dissolved in the oceans. Subsequent proponents of the "RNA World" hypothesis have shown aqueous HCN to be the starting point for the formation of the precursors of RNA and proteins. However, the conditions of early Earth suggest that aqueous HCN would have had to react under a significant number of constraints. Therefore, given the limiting conditions, could RNA and protein precursors still have formed from aqueous HCN? If so, what mechanistic routes would have been followed? The current computational study, with the aid of the ab initio nanoreactor (AINR), a powerful new tool in computational chemistry, addresses these crucial questions. Gratifyingly, not only do the results from the AINR approach show that aqueous HCN could indeed have been the source of RNA and protein precursors, but they also indicate that just the interaction of HCN with water would have sufficed to begin a series of reactions leading to the precursors. The current work therefore provides important missing links in the story of prebiotic chemistry and charts the road from aqueous HCN to the precursors of RNA and proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamal Das
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Siddharth Ghule
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Kumar Vanka
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
- E-mail:
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16
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Nitrogen heterocycles form peptide nucleic acid precursors in complex prebiotic mixtures. Sci Rep 2019; 9:9281. [PMID: 31243303 PMCID: PMC6594999 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45310-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to store information is believed to have been crucial for the origin and evolution of life; however, little is known about the genetic polymers relevant to abiogenesis. Nitrogen heterocycles (N-heterocycles) are plausible components of such polymers as they may have been readily available on early Earth and are the means by which the extant genetic macromolecules RNA and DNA store information. Here, we report the reactivity of numerous N-heterocycles in highly complex mixtures, which were generated using a Miller-Urey spark discharge apparatus with either a reducing or neutral atmosphere, to investigate how N-heterocycles are modified under plausible prebiotic conditions. High throughput mass spectrometry was used to identify N-heterocycle adducts. Additionally, tandem mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to elucidate reaction pathways for select reactions. Remarkably, we found that the majority of N-heterocycles, including the canonical nucleobases, gain short carbonyl side chains in our complex mixtures via a Strecker-like synthesis or Michael addition. These types of N-heterocycle adducts are subunits of the proposed RNA precursor, peptide nucleic acids (PNAs). The ease with which these carbonylated heterocycles form under both reducing and neutral atmospheres is suggestive that PNAs could be prebiotically feasible on early Earth.
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17
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Gibard C, Gorrell IB, Jiménez EI, Kee TP, Pasek MA, Krishnamurthy R. Geochemical Sources and Availability of Amidophosphates on the Early Earth. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201903808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Clémentine Gibard
- Department of Chemistry The Scripps Research Institute 10550 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla CA 92037 USA
| | - Ian B. Gorrell
- School of Chemistry University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT UK
| | - Eddy I. Jiménez
- Department of Chemistry The Scripps Research Institute 10550 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla CA 92037 USA
| | - Terence P. Kee
- School of Chemistry University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT UK
| | - Matthew A. Pasek
- School of Geosciences University of South Florida Tampa FL 33620 USA
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18
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Gibard C, Gorrell IB, Jiménez EI, Kee TP, Pasek MA, Krishnamurthy R. Geochemical Sources and Availability of Amidophosphates on the Early Earth. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019; 58:8151-8155. [PMID: 30989779 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201903808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Phosphorylation of (pre)biotically relevant molecules in aqueous medium has recently been demonstrated using water-soluble diamidophosphate (DAP). Questions arise relating to the prebiotic availability of DAP and other amidophosphosphorus species on the early earth. Herein, we demonstrate that DAP and other amino-derivatives of phosphates/phosphite are generated when Fe3 P (proxy for mineral schreibersite), condensed phosphates, and reduced oxidation state phosphorus compounds, which could have been available on early earth, are exposed to aqueous ammonia solutions. DAP is shown to remain in aqueous solution under conditions where phosphate is precipitated out by divalent metals. These results show that nitrogenated analogues of phosphate and reduced phosphite species can be produced and remain in solution, overcoming the thermodynamic barrier for phosphorylation in water, increasing the possibility that abiotic phosphorylation reactions occurred in aqueous environments on early earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémentine Gibard
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Ian B Gorrell
- School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Eddy I Jiménez
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Terence P Kee
- School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Matthew A Pasek
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA
| | - Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
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19
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Ritson DJ, Battilocchio C, Ley SV, Sutherland JD. Mimicking the surface and prebiotic chemistry of early Earth using flow chemistry. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1821. [PMID: 29739945 PMCID: PMC5940729 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04147-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
When considering life's aetiology, the first questions that must be addressed are "how?" and "where?" were ostensibly complex molecules, considered necessary for life's beginning, constructed from simpler, more abundant feedstock molecules on primitive Earth. Previously, we have used multiple clues from the prebiotic synthetic requirements of (proto)biomolecules to pinpoint a set of closely related geochemical scenarios that are suggestive of flow and semi-batch chemistries. We now wish to report a multistep, uninterrupted synthesis of a key heterocycle (2-aminooxazole) en route to activated nucleotides starting from highly plausible, prebiotic feedstock molecules under conditions which mimic this scenario. Further consideration of the scenario has uncovered additional pertinent and novel aspects of prebiotic chemistry, which greatly enhance the efficiency and plausibility of the synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J Ritson
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK.
| | - Claudio Battilocchio
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.,Syngenta Crop Protection, Process Research, Schaffhauserstrasse 101, CH-4332, Stein, Switzerland
| | - Steven V Ley
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK
| | - John D Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK.
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20
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Kim HJ, Benner SA. A Direct Prebiotic Synthesis of Nicotinamide Nucleotide. Chemistry 2017; 24:581-584. [PMID: 29194806 DOI: 10.1002/chem.201705394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The "RNA World" hypothesis proposes an early episode of the natural history of Earth, where RNA was used as the only genetically encoded molecule to catalyze steps in its metabolism. This, according to the hypothesis, included RNA catalysts that used RNA cofactors. However, the RNA World hypothesis places special demands on prebiotic chemistry, which must now deliver not only four ribonucleosides, but also must deliver the "functional" portion of these RNA cofactors. While some (e.g., methionine) present no particular challenges, nicotinamide ribose is special. Essential to its role in biological oxidations and reductions, its glycosidic bond that holds a positively charged heterocycle is especially unstable with respect to cleavage. Nevertheless, we are able to report here a prebiotic synthesis of phosphorylated nicotinamide ribose under conditions that also conveniently lead to the adenosine phosphate components of this and other RNA cofactors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyo-Joong Kim
- Firebird Biomolecular Sciences LLC, 13709 Progress Blvd., Alachua, FL, 32615, USA
| | - Steven A Benner
- Firebird Biomolecular Sciences LLC, 13709 Progress Blvd., Alachua, FL, 32615, USA.,Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, 13709 Progress Blvd., Alachua, FL, 32615, USA
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21
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Nava-Sedeño JM, Ortiz-Cervantes A, Segura A, Domagal-Goldman SD. Carbon Monoxide and the Potential for Prebiotic Chemistry on Habitable Planets around Main Sequence M Stars. ASTROBIOLOGY 2016; 16:744-754. [PMID: 27700137 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Lifeless planets with CO2 atmospheres produce CO by CO2 photolysis. On planets around M dwarfs, CO is a long-lived atmospheric compound, as long as UV emission due to the star's chromospheric activity lasts, and the sink of CO and O2 in seawater is small compared to its atmospheric production. Atmospheres containing reduced compounds, like CO, may undergo further energetic and chemical processing to give rise to organic compounds of potential importance for the origin of life. We calculated the yield of organic compounds from CO2-rich atmospheres of planets orbiting M dwarf stars, which were previously simulated by Domagal-Goldman et al. (2014) and Harman et al. (2015), by cosmic rays and lightning using results of experiments by Miyakawa et al. (2002) and Schlesinger and Miller ( 1983a , 1983b ). Stellar protons from active stars may be important energy sources for abiotic synthesis and increase production rates of biological compounds by at least 2 orders of magnitude compared to cosmic rays. Simple compounds such as HCN and H2CO are more readily synthesized than more complex ones, such as amino acids and uracil (considered here as an example), resulting in higher yields for the former and lower yields for the latter. Electric discharges are most efficient when a reducing atmosphere is present. Nonetheless, atmospheres with high quantities of CO2 are capable of producing higher amounts of prebiotic compounds, given that CO is constantly produced in the atmosphere. Our results further support planetary systems around M dwarf stars as candidates for supporting life or its origin. Key Words: Prebiotic chemistry-M dwarfs-Habitable planets-Cosmic rays-Lightning-Stellar activity. Astrobiology 16, 744-754.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Manik Nava-Sedeño
- 1 Department for Innovative Methods of Computing, ZIH, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden, Germany
| | - Adrian Ortiz-Cervantes
- 2 Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, BIOTEC, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden, Germany
| | - Antígona Segura
- 3 Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , México D.F., México
| | - Shawn D Domagal-Goldman
- 4 Planetary Environments Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
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Pascal R. Physicochemical Requirements Inferred for Chemical Self-Organization Hardly Support an Emergence of Life in the Deep Oceans of Icy Moons. ASTROBIOLOGY 2016; 16:328-334. [PMID: 27116590 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED An approach to the origin of life, focused on the property of entities capable of reproducing themselves far from equilibrium, has been developed recently. Independently, the possibility of the emergence of life in the hydrothermal systems possibly present in the deep oceans below the frozen crust of some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn has been raised. The present report is aimed at investigating the mutual compatibility of these alternative views. In this approach, the habitability concept deduced from the limits of life on Earth is considered to be inappropriate with regard to emerging life due to the requirement for an energy source of sufficient potential (equivalent to the potential of visible light). For these icy moons, no driving force would have been present to assist the process of emergence, which would then have had to rely exclusively on highly improbable events, thereby making the presence of life unlikely on these Solar System bodies, that is, unless additional processes are introduced for feeding chemical systems undergoing a transition toward life and the early living organisms. KEY WORDS Icy moon-Bioenergetics-Chemical evolution-Habitability-Origin of life. Astrobiology 16, 328-334.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Pascal
- Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM, UMR 5247, CNRS/Université de Montpellier/ENSCM), Montpellier, France
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23
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Mazankova V, Torokova L, Krcma F, Mason NJ, Matejcik S. The Influence of CO 2 Admixtures on the Product Composition in a Nitrogen-Methane Atmospheric Glow Discharge Used as a Prebiotic Atmosphere Mimic. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2016; 46:499-506. [PMID: 27068154 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-016-9504-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2015] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
This work extends our previous experimental studies of the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere by atmospheric glow discharge. The Titan's atmosphere seems to be similarly to early Earth atmospheric composition. The exploration of Titan atmosphere was initiated by the exciting results of the Cassini-Huygens mission and obtained results increased the interest about prebiotic atmospheres. Present work is devoted to the role of CO2 in the prebiotic atmosphere chemistry. Most of the laboratory studies of such atmosphere were focused on the chemistry of N2 + CH4 mixtures. The present work is devoted to the study of the oxygenated volatile species in prebiotic atmosphere, specifically CO2 reactivity. CO2 was introduced to the standard N2 + CH4 mixture at different mixing ratio up to 5 % CH4 and 3 % CO2. The reaction products were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. This work shows that CO2 modifies the composition of the gas phase with the detection of oxygenated compounds: CO and others oxides. There is a strong influence of CO2 on increasing concentration other products as cyanide (HCN) and ammonia (NH3).
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Affiliation(s)
- V Mazankova
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 119, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - L Torokova
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 119, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
| | - F Krcma
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 119, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - N J Mason
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
| | - S Matejcik
- Department of Experimental Physics, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina F-2, 842 48, Bratislava, Slovakia
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Nhlabatsi ZP, Bhasi P, Sitha S. Possible interstellar formation of glycine through a concerted mechanism: a computational study on the reaction of CH2NH, CO2 and H2. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2016; 18:20109-17. [DOI: 10.1039/c5cp07124k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Computational studies on the reaction of CH2NH, CO2 and H2 show the possible interstellar formation of glycine in both hot-cores and cold interstellar clouds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zanele P. Nhlabatsi
- Department of Chemistry
- University of Johannesburg
- Auckland Park
- South Africa 2006
| | - Priya Bhasi
- Department of Chemistry
- University of Johannesburg
- Auckland Park
- South Africa 2006
| | - Sanyasi Sitha
- Department of Chemistry
- University of Johannesburg
- Auckland Park
- South Africa 2006
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25
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Myrgorodska I, Meinert C, Martins Z, Le Sergeant d'Hendecourt L, Meierhenrich UJ. Molekülchiralität in Meteoriten und interstellarem Eis und das Chiralitätsexperiment an Bord der Kometenmission Rosetta der ESA. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2014. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201409354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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26
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Myrgorodska I, Meinert C, Martins Z, Le Sergeant d'Hendecourt L, Meierhenrich UJ. Molecular chirality in meteorites and interstellar ices, and the chirality experiment on board the ESA cometary Rosetta mission. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2014; 54:1402-12. [PMID: 25431250 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201409354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Life, as it is known to us, uses exclusively L-amino acid and D-sugar enantiomers for the molecular architecture of proteins and nucleic acids. This Minireview explores current models of the original symmetry-breaking influence that led to the exogenic delivery to Earth of prebiotic molecules with a slight enantiomeric excess. We provide a short overview of enantiomeric enhancements detected in bodies of extraterrestrial origin, such as meteorites, and interstellar ices simulated in the laboratory. Data are interpreted from different points of view, namely, photochirogenesis, parity violation in the weak nuclear interaction, and enantioenrichment through phase transitions. Photochemically induced enantiomeric imbalances are discussed more specifically in the topical context of the "chirality module" on board the cometary Rosetta spacecraft of the ESA. This device will perform the first enantioselective in situ analyses of samples taken from a cometary nucleus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iuliia Myrgorodska
- Institut de Chimie de Nice ICN, UMR CNRS 7272, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, Parc Valrose, 06108, Nice (France) http://www.unice.fr/meierhenrich/
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Nguyen HT, Nguyen MT. Effects of sulfur-deficient defect and water on rearrangements of formamide on pyrite (100) surface. J Phys Chem A 2014; 118:4079-86. [PMID: 24832217 DOI: 10.1021/jp5013945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The efficient formation of HCN/HNC from formamide (FM) combining the advantages of water-assistance, self-catalyzed reactions, and the mineral surfaces was investigated. Periodic density functional theory calculations with plane-wave pseudopotential basis sets were performed to study the interaction of FM with pyrite (100) ideal and defect surfaces. Effects of sulfur vacancy defect and water on tautomerization and rearrangement barriers of FM on the (100) surface were evaluated. Calculated results show that FM adsorbs more strongly on the defect surface than on the ideal surface, with the lowest adsorption energy on the defect surface being -22 kcal/mol. The energy barriers for rearrangements of FM on these two surfaces being close to each other suggests that the adsorptions on the surfaces have small effects on the energy barriers. The energy barriers for formimic acid isomer formations are 44.5 and 46.0 kcal/mol, and those of aminohydroxymethylene formations are 72.6 and 71.9 kcal/mol on the ideal and defect surfaces, respectively. A reduction of ∼30 kcal/mol in tautomerization energy barriers is observed in water-assisted process on the defect surface. Because this reduction is close to that of the gas-phase reactions, the catalytic effect is clearly due to the presence of water molecule instead of the interaction with the surface. In this case, the pyrite surfaces with the ability to accumulate reactive species only play the role of connecting bridges between the two steps of the proposed reaction mechanism: the water-assisted rearrangement and the self-catalyzed dehydration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huyen Thi Nguyen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
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Toxvaerd S. The role of carbohydrates at the origin of homochirality in biosystems. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2013; 43:391-409. [PMID: 23996458 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-013-9342-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2012] [Accepted: 07/12/2013] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Pasteur has demonstrated that the chiral components in a racemic mixture can separate in homochiral crystals. But with a strong chiral discrimination the chiral components in a concentrated mixture can also phase separate into homochiral fluid domains, and the isomerization kinetics can then perform a symmetry breaking into one thermodynamical stable homochiral system. Glyceraldehyde has a sufficient chiral discrimination to perform such a symmetry breaking. The requirement of a high concentration of the chiral reactant(s) in an aqueous solution in order to perform and maintain homochirality; the appearance of phosphorylation of almost all carbohydrates in the central machinery of life; the basic ideas that the biochemistry and the glycolysis and gluconeogenesis contain the trace of the biochemical evolution, all point in the direction of that homochirality was obtained just after- or at a phosphorylation of the very first products of the formose reaction, at high concentrations of the reactants in phosphate rich compartments in submarine hydrothermal vents. A racemic solution of D,L-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate could be the template for obtaining homochiral D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate(aq) as well as L-amino acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Søren Toxvaerd
- DNRF centre "Glass and Time", IMFUFA, Department of Sciences, Roskilde University, Postbox 260, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark,
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Trainer MG. Atmospheric Prebiotic Chemistry and Organic Hazes. CURR ORG CHEM 2013; 17:1710-1723. [PMID: 24143126 PMCID: PMC3796891 DOI: 10.2174/13852728113179990078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2011] [Revised: 05/07/2013] [Accepted: 05/12/2013] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Earth's atmospheric composition at the time of the origin of life is not known, but it has often been suggested that chemical transformation of reactive species in the atmosphere was a significant source of prebiotic organic molecules. Experimental and theoretical studies over the past half century have shown that atmospheric synthesis can yield molecules such as amino acids and nucleobases, but these processes are very sensitive to gas composition and energy source. Abiotic synthesis of organic molecules is more productive in reduced atmospheres, yet the primitive Earth may not have been as reducing as earlier workers assumed, and recent research has reflected this shift in thinking. This work provides a survey of the range of chemical products that can be produced given a set of atmospheric conditions, with a particular focus on recent reports. Intertwined with the discussion of atmospheric synthesis is the consideration of an organic haze layer, which has been suggested as a possible ultraviolet shield on the anoxic early Earth. Since such a haze layer - if formed - would serve as a reservoir for organic molecules, the chemical composition of the aerosol should be closely examined. The results highlighted here show that a variety of products can be formed in mildly reducing or even neutral atmospheres, demonstrating that contributions of atmospheric synthesis to the organic inventory on early Earth should not be discounted. This review intends to bridge current knowledge of the range of possible atmospheric conditions in the prebiotic environment and pathways for synthesis under such conditions by examining the possible products of organic chemistry in the early atmosphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa G. Trainer
- Planetary Environments Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 699, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
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Harman CE, Kasting JF, Wolf ET. Atmospheric production of glycolaldehyde under hazy prebiotic conditions. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2013; 43:77-98. [PMID: 23695543 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-013-9332-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2013] [Accepted: 04/11/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The early Earth's atmosphere, with extremely low levels of molecular oxygen and an appreciable abiotic flux of methane, could have been a source of organic compounds necessary for prebiotic chemistry. Here, we investigate the formation of a key RNA precursor, glycolaldehyde (2-hydroxyacetaldehyde, or GA) using a 1-dimensional photochemical model. Maximum atmospheric production of GA occurs when the CH4:CO2 ratio is close to 0.02. The total atmospheric production rate of GA remains small, only 1 × 10(7) mol yr(-1). Somewhat greater amounts of GA production, up to 2 × 10(8) mol yr(-1), could have been provided by the formose reaction or by direct delivery from space. Even with these additional production mechanisms, open ocean GA concentrations would have remained at or below ~1 μM, much smaller than the 1-2 M concentrations required for prebiotic synthesis routes like those proposed by Powner et al. (Nature 459:239-242, 2009). Additional production or concentration mechanisms for GA, or alternative formation mechanisms for RNA, are needed, if this was indeed how life originated on the early Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chester E Harman
- Department of Geosciences, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
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Toxvaerd S. Homochirality in bio-organic systems and glyceraldehyde in the formose reaction. J Biol Phys 2013; 31:599-606. [PMID: 23345921 DOI: 10.1007/s10867-005-6063-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The article explores the possibility that the ordering of bio-organic molecules into a homochiral assembly at the origin of life was performed not in aqueous solutions of amino acids or related materials but in racemic glyceraldehyde in the "formose" reaction at high concentration and temperature. Based on physical chemical evidence and computer simulations of condensed fluids, it is argued that the isomerization kinetics of glyceraldehyde is responszible of the symmetry break and the ordering of molecules into homochiral domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Toxvaerd
- Department of Chemistry, H. C. Ørsted Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Susi T, Lanzani G, Nasibulin AG, Ayala P, Jiang T, Bligaard T, Laasonen K, Kauppinen EI. Mechanism of the initial stages of nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotube growth. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2011; 13:11303-7. [DOI: 10.1039/c1cp20454h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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35
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Toxvaerd S. Origin of homochirality in biosystems. Int J Mol Sci 2009; 10:1290-1299. [PMID: 19399249 PMCID: PMC2672030 DOI: 10.3390/ijms10031290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2009] [Revised: 03/12/2009] [Accepted: 03/18/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Experimental data for a series of central and simple molecules in biosystems show that some amino acids and a simple sugar molecule have a chiral discrimination in favor of homochirality. Models for segregation of racemic mixtures of chiral amphiphiles and lipophiles in aqueous solutions show that the amphiphiles with an active isomerization kinetics can perform a spontaneous break of symmetry during the segregation and self-assembly to homochiral matter. Based on this observation it is argued that biomolecules with a sufficiently strong chiral discrimination could be the origin of homochirality in biological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Søren Toxvaerd
- DNRF center "Glass and Time", Roskilde University, Postbox 260 DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
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36
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Brandes JA, Hazen RM, Yoder HS. Inorganic nitrogen reduction and stability under simulated hydrothermal conditions. ASTROBIOLOGY 2008; 8:1113-1126. [PMID: 19191539 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2007.0187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Availability of reduced nitrogen is considered a prerequisite for the genesis of life from prebiotic precursors. Most atmospheric and oceanic models for the Hadean Earth predict a mildly oxidizing environment that is conducive to the formation and stability of only oxidized forms of nitrogen. A possible environment where reduction of oxidized nitrogen to ammonium has been speculated to occur is aqueous hydrothermal systems. We examined a suite of transition metal oxides and sulfides for their ability to reduce nitrate and nitrite, as well as oxidize ammonia, under hot (300 degrees C) high-pressure (50-500 MPa) aqueous conditions. In general, iron sulfides exhibited the most rapid and complete conversion noted, followed by nickel and copper sulfides to a much lower degree. Of the oxides examined, only magnetite exhibited any ability to reduce NO(3)(-) or NO(2)(-). Ammonium was stable or exhibited small losses (<20%) in contact with all the mineral phases and conditions tested. The results support the idea that hydrothermal systems could have provided significant amounts of reduced nitrogen to their immediate environments. The enhanced availability of reduced nitrogen in hydrothermal systems also has important implications for prebiotic metabolic pathways where nitrogen availability is critical to the production of amino acids and other nitrogenous compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jay A Brandes
- Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA 31411, USA.
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37
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Menor-Salván C, Ruiz-Bermejo M, Osuna-Esteban S, Muñoz-Caro G, Veintemillas-Verdaguer S. Synthesis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Acetylene Polymers in Ice: A Prebiotic Scenario. Chem Biodivers 2008; 5:2729-39. [DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.200890228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Ehrenfreund P, Rasmussen S, Cleaves J, Chen L. Experimentally tracing the key steps in the origin of life: The aromatic world. ASTROBIOLOGY 2006; 6:490-520. [PMID: 16805704 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2006.6.490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Life is generally believed to emerge on Earth, to be at least functionally similar to life as we know it today, and to be much simpler than modern life. Although minimal life is notoriously difficult to define, a molecular system can be considered alive if it turns resources into building blocks, replicates, and evolves. Primitive life may have consisted of a compartmentalized genetic system coupled with an energy-harvesting mechanism. How prebiotic building blocks self-assemble and transform themselves into a minimal living system can be broken into two questions: (1) How can prebiotic building blocks form containers, metabolic networks, and informational polymers? (2) How can these three components cooperatively organize to form a protocell that satisfies the minimal requirements for a living system? The functional integration of these components is a difficult puzzle that requires cooperation among all the aspects of protocell assembly: starting material, reaction mechanisms, thermodynamics, and the integration of the inheritance, metabolism, and container functionalities. Protocells may have been self-assembled from components different from those used in modern biochemistry. We propose that assemblies based on aromatic hydrocarbons may have been the most abundant flexible and stable organic materials on the primitive Earth and discuss their possible integration into a minimal life form. In this paper we attempt to combine current knowledge of the composition of prebiotic organic material of extraterrestrial and terrestrial origin, and put these in the context of possible prebiotic scenarios. We also describe laboratory experiments that might help clarify the transition from nonliving to living matter using aromatic material. This paper presents an interdisciplinary approach to interface state of the art knowledge in astrochemistry, prebiotic chemistry, and artificial life research.
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40
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Miyakawa S, Yamanashi H, Kobayashi K, Cleaves HJ, Miller SL. Prebiotic synthesis from CO atmospheres: implications for the origins of life. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2002; 99:14628-31. [PMID: 12409606 PMCID: PMC137469 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.192568299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Most models of the primitive atmosphere around the time life originated suggest that the atmosphere was dominated by carbon dioxide, largely based on the notion that the atmosphere was derived via volcanic outgassing, and that those gases were similar to those found in modern volcanic effluent. These models tend to downplay the possibility of a strongly reducing atmosphere, which had been thought to be important for prebiotic synthesis and thus the origin of life. However, there is no definitive geologic evidence for the oxidation state of the early atmosphere and bioorganic compounds are not efficiently synthesized from CO(2) atmospheres. In the present study, it was shown that a CO-CO(2)-N(2)-H(2)O atmosphere can give a variety of bioorganic compounds with yields comparable to those obtained from a strongly reducing atmosphere. Atmospheres containing carbon monoxide might therefore have been conducive to prebiotic synthesis and perhaps the origin of life. CO-dominant atmospheres could have existed if the production rate of CO from impacts of extraterrestrial materials were high or if the upper mantle had been more reduced than today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shin Miyakawa
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan
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41
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Miyakawa S, Cleaves HJ, Miller SL. The cold origin of life: A. Implications based on the hydrolytic stabilities of hydrogen cyanide and formamide. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2002; 32:195-208. [PMID: 12227424 DOI: 10.1023/a:1016514305984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that hydrogen cyanide (HCN) would not have been present in sufficient concentration to polymerize in the primitive ocean to produce nucleic acid bases and amino acids. We have measured the hydrolysis rates of HCN and formamide over the range of 30-150 degrees C and pH 0-14, and estimated the steady state concentrations in the primitive ocean. At 100 degrees C and pH 8, the steady state concentration of HCN and formamide were calculated to be 7 x 10(-13) M and 1 x 10(-15) M, respectively. Thus, it seems unlikely that HCN could have polymerized in a warm primitive ocean. It is suggested that eutectic freezing might have been required to have concentrated HCN sufficiantly for it to polymerize. If the HCN polymerization was important for the origin of life, some regions of the primitive earth might have been frozen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shin Miyakawa
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan
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42
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Miyakawa S, Cleaves HJ, Miller SL. The cold origin of life: B. Implications based on pyrimidines and purines produced from frozen ammonium cyanide solutions. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2002; 32:209-18. [PMID: 12227425 DOI: 10.1023/a:1019514022822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
A wide variety of pyrimidines and purines were identified as products of a dilute frozen ammonium cyanide solution that had been held at -78 degrees C for 27 years. This demonstrates that both pyrimidines and purines could have been produced on the primitive earth in a short time by eutectic concentration of HCN, even though the concentration of HCN in the primitive ocean may have been low. We suggest that eutectic freezing is the most plausible demonstrated mechanism by which HCN polymerizations could have produced biologically important prebiotic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shin Miyakawa
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan
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43
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Ring D, Miller SL. The spark discharge synthesis of amino acids from various hydrocarbons. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2001; 15:7-15. [PMID: 11541971 DOI: 10.1007/bf01809389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The spark discharge synthesis of amino acids using an atmosphere of CH4 + N2 + H2O + NH3 has been investigated with variable pNH3. The amino acids produced using higher hydrocarbons (ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propane, butane, and isobutane) instead of CH4 were also investigated. There was considerable range in the absolute yields of amino acids, but the yields relative to glycine (or alpha-amino-n-butyric acid) were more uniform. The relative yields of the C3 to C6 aliphatic alpha-amino acids are nearly the same (with a few exceptions) with all the hydrocarbons. The glycine yields are more variable. The precursors to the C3-C6 aliphatic amino acids seem to be produced in the same process, which is separate from the synthesis of glycine precursors. It may be possible to use these relative yields as a signature for a spark discharge synthesis provided corrections can be made for subsequent decomposition events (e.g. in the Murchison meteorite).
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Affiliation(s)
- D Ring
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA
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44
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Abstract
Miller and Urey suggested in 1959 that lightning and corona on the early Earth could have been the most favorable sources of prebiotic synthesis. In 1991 Chyba and Sagan reviewed the presently prevailing data on electrical discharges on Earth and they raised questions as to whether the electrical sources of prebiotic synthesis were as favorable as was claimed. The proposal of the present paper is that localized lightning sources associated with Archaean volcanoes could have possessed considerable advantages for prebiotic synthesis over the previously suggested global sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- R D Hill
- Chem & Nuc. Eng. Dept., University of California, Santa Barbara 93106, USA
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45
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Hill HG, Grady CA, Nuth JA, Hallenbeck SL, Sitko ML. Constraints on nebular dynamics and chemistry based on observations of annealed magnesium silicate grains in comets and in disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001; 98:2182-7. [PMID: 11226213 PMCID: PMC33388 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.051530998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding dynamic conditions in the Solar Nebula is the key to prediction of the material to be found in comets. We suggest that a dynamic, large-scale circulation pattern brings processed dust and gas from the inner nebula back out into the region of cometesimal formation-extending possibly hundreds of astronomical units (AU) from the sun-and that the composition of comets is determined by a chemical reaction network closely coupled to the dynamic transport of dust and gas in the system. This scenario is supported by laboratory studies of Mg silicates and the astronomical data for comets and for protoplanetary disks associated with young stars, which demonstrate that annealing of nebular silicates must occur in conjunction with a large-scale circulation. Mass recycling of dust should have a significant effect on the chemical kinetics of the outer nebula by introducing reduced, gas-phase species produced in the higher temperature and pressure environment of the inner nebula, along with freshly processed grains with "clean" catalytic surfaces to the region of cometesimal formation. Because comets probably form throughout the lifetime of the Solar Nebula and processed (crystalline) grains are not immediately available for incorporation into the first generation of comets, an increasing fraction of dust incorporated into a growing comet should be crystalline olivine and this fraction can serve as a crude chronometer of the relative ages of comets. The formation and evolution of key organic and biogenic molecules in comets are potentially of great consequence to astrobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- H G Hill
- Code 691, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
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46
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Glavin DP, Bada JL. Survival of amino acids in micrometeorites during atmospheric entry. ASTROBIOLOGY 2001; 1:259-269. [PMID: 12448989 DOI: 10.1089/15311070152757456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The delivery of amino acids by micrometeorites to the early Earth during the period of heavy bombardment could have been a significant source of the Earth's prebiotic amino acid inventory provided that these organic compounds survived atmospheric entry heating. To investigate the sublimation of amino acids from a micrometeorite analog at elevated temperature, grains from the CM-type carbonaceous chondrite Murchison were heated to 550 degrees C inside a glass sublimation apparatus (SA) under reduced pressure. The sublimed residue that had collected on the cold finger of the SA after heating was analyzed for amino acids by HPLC. We found that when the temperature of the meteorite reached approximately 150 degrees C, a large fraction of the amino acid glycine had vaporized from the meteorite, recondensed onto the end of the SA cold finger, and survived as the rest of the grains heated to 550 degrees C. alpha-Aminoisobutryic acid and isovaline, which are two of the most abundant non-protein amino acids in Murchison, did not sublime from the meteorite and were completely destroyed during the heating experiment. Our experimental results suggest that sublimation of glycine present in micrometeorite grains may provide a way for this amino acid to survive atmospheric entry heating at temperatures > 550 degrees C; all other amino acids apparently are destroyed.
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Affiliation(s)
- D P Glavin
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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47
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Miyakawa S, Murasawa K, Kobayashi K, Sawaoka AB. Abiotic synthesis of guanine with high-temperature plasma. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2000; 30:557-66. [PMID: 11196576 DOI: 10.1023/a:1026587607264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The origin of guanine has been unknown, though there are some reports concerning its abiotic synthesis. We show here that guanine, as well as uracil and cytosine, are synthesized from a 90%N2-10%CO-H2O gas mixture via a complex organic product produced with the high-temperature and rapid quenching technique. This result implies that a large amount of complex organic matter including precursors of bioorganic compounds might have been produced on the primitive earth after cometary impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Miyakawa
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
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Nelson KE, Levy M, Miller SL. Peptide nucleic acids rather than RNA may have been the first genetic molecule. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2000; 97:3868-71. [PMID: 10760258 PMCID: PMC18108 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.97.8.3868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 213] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous problems exist with the current thinking of RNA as the first genetic material. No plausible prebiotic processes have yet been demonstrated to produce the nucleosides or nucleotides or for efficient two-way nonenzymatic replication. Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a promising precursor to RNA, consisting of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine (AEG) and the adenine, uracil, guanine, and cytosine-N-acetic acids. However, PNA has not yet been demonstrated to be prebiotic. We show here that AEG is produced directly in electric discharge reactions from CH(4), N(2), NH(3), and H(2)O. Electric discharges also produce ethylenediamine, as do NH(4)CN polymerizations. AEG is produced from the robust Strecker synthesis with ethylenediamine. The NH(4)CN polymerization in the presence of glycine leads to the adenine and guanine-N(9)-acetic acids, and the cytosine and uracil-N(1)-acetic acids are produced in high yield from the reaction of cyanoacetaldehyde with hydantoic acid, rather than urea. Preliminary experiments suggest that AEG may polymerize rapidly at 100 degrees C to give the polypeptide backbone of PNA. The ease of synthesis of the components of PNA and possibility of polymerization of AEG reinforce the possibility that PNA may have been the first genetic material.
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Affiliation(s)
- K E Nelson
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0506, USA
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49
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Miyakawa S, Murasawa KI, Kobayashi K, Sawaoka AB. Cytosine and Uracil Synthesis by Quenching with High-Temperature Plasma. J Am Chem Soc 1999. [DOI: 10.1021/ja990961h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shin Miyakawa
- Contribution from the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259, Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan
| | - Ken-ichi Murasawa
- Contribution from the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259, Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan
| | - Kensei Kobayashi
- Contribution from the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259, Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan
| | - Akira B. Sawaoka
- Contribution from the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259, Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan
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Miyakawa S, Kobayashi K, Sawaoka AB. Amino acid synthesis from CO-N2 and CO-N2-H2 gas mixtures via complex organic compounds. ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPACE RESEARCH (COSPAR) 1999; 24:465-468. [PMID: 11543333 DOI: 10.1016/s0273-1177(99)00089-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Reaction among hydrogen cyanide (HCN), formaldehyde (H2CO) and ammonia (NH3) are generally considered an important reaction in amino acid synthesis by electric discharge. Precursors of glycine and aspartic acid were, however, synthesized by adding water to metastable complex compounds produced by quenching a CO-N2 high-temperature plasma. In order to investigate effects of water remaining in an experimental vacuum chamber, optical emission spectroscopic and mass spectrometric measurements were conducted with CO-N2 and CO-N2-H2 gas mixtures. Although residual hydrogen atoms were detected in the CO-N2 experiment, the amount of them was much less than that in the CO-N2-H2 experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Miyakawa
- Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta, Midori, Japan
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