Quantifying Global Origin-Diagnostic Features and Patterns in Biotic and Abiotic Acyclic Lipids for Life Detection

Lipids are a geologically robust class of organics ubiquitous to life as we know it. Lipid-like soluble organics are synthesized abiotically and have been identified in carbonaceous meteorites and on Mars. Ascertaining the origin of lipids on Mars would be a profound astrobiological achievement. We enumerate origin-diagnostic features and patterns in two acyclic lipid classes, fatty acids (i.e., carboxylic acids) and acyclic hydrocarbons, by collecting and analyzing molecular data reported in over 1500 samples from previously published studies of terrestrial and meteoritic organics. We identify 27 combined (15 for fatty acids, 12 for acyclic hydrocarbons) molecular patterns and structural features that can aid in distinguishing biotic from abiotic synthesis. Principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrates that multivariate analyses of molecular features (16 for fatty acids, 14 for acyclic hydrocarbons) can potentially indicate sample origin. Terrestrial lipids are dominated by longer straight-chain molecules (C4-C34 fatty acids, C14-C46 acyclic hydrocarbons), with predominance for specific branched and unsaturated isomers. Lipid-like meteoritic soluble organics are shorter, with random configurations. Organic solvent-extraction techniques are most commonly reported, motivating the design of our novel instrument, the Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (ExCALiBR), which extracts lipids while preserving origin-diagnostic features that can indicate biogenicity.

Influence of Calcium Perchlorate on the Search for Martian Organic Compounds with MTBSTFA/DMF Derivatization

N-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA), mixed with the solvent N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), is used as a derivatizing reagent by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) experiment onboard NASA's Curiosity rover and will soon be utilized by the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer experiment onboard the ESA/Roscosmos Rosalind Franklin rover. The pyrolysis products of MTBSTFA, DMF, and the MTBSTFA/DMF mixtures, obtained at different temperatures, were analyzed. Two different pyrolysis modes were studied, flash pyrolysis and ramp pyrolysis (35°C/min), to evaluate the potential influence of the sample heating speed on the production of products in space chromatographs. The effect of the presence of calcium perchlorate on the pyrolysis products of MTBSTFA/DMF was also studied to ascertain the potential effect of perchlorate species known to be present at the martian surface. The results show that MTBSTFA/DMF derivatization should be applied below 300°C when using flash pyrolysis, as numerous products of MTBSTFA/DMF were formed at high pyrolysis temperatures. However, when an SAM-like ramp pyrolysis was applied, the final pyrolysis temperature did not appear to influence the degradation products of MTBSTFA/DMF. All products of MTBSTFA/DMF pyrolysis are listed in this article, providing a major database of products for the analysis of martian analog samples, meteorites, and the in situ analysis of martian rocks and soils. In addition, the presence of calcium perchlorate does not show any obvious effects on the pyrolysis of MTBSTFA/DMF: Only chloromethane and TBDMS-Cl (chloro-tertbutyldimethylsilane) were detected, whereas chlorobenzene and other chlorine-bearing compounds were not detected. However, other chlorine-bearing compounds were detected after pyrolysis of the Murchison meteorite in the presence of calcium perchlorate. This result reinforces previous suggestions that chloride-bearing compounds could be reaction products of martian samples and perchlorate.

Macromolecular organic compounds from the depths of Enceladus

Saturn's moon Enceladus harbours a global water ocean 1 , which lies under an ice crust and above a rocky core 2 . Through warm cracks in the crust 3 a cryo-volcanic plume ejects ice grains and vapour into space4-7 that contain materials originating from the ocean8,9. Hydrothermal activity is suspected to occur deep inside the porous core10-12, powered by tidal dissipation 13 . So far, only simple organic compounds with molecular masses mostly below 50 atomic mass units have been observed in plume material6,14,15. Here we report observations of emitted ice grains containing concentrated and complex macromolecular organic material with molecular masses above 200 atomic mass units. The data constrain the macromolecular structure of organics detected in the ice grains and suggest the presence of a thin organic-rich film on top of the oceanic water table, where organic nucleation cores generated by the bursting of bubbles allow the probing of Enceladus' organic inventory in enhanced concentrations.

Zhamanshin astrobleme provides evidence for carbonaceous chondrite and post-impact exchange between ejecta and Earth's atmosphere

Chemical fingerprints of impacts are usually compromised by extreme conditions in the impact plume, and the contribution of projectile matter to impactites does not often exceed a fraction of per cent. Here we use chromium and oxygen isotopes to identify the impactor and impact-plume processes for Zhamanshin astrobleme, Kazakhstan. ε54Cr values up to 1.54 in irghizites, part of the fallback ejecta, represent the 54Cr-rich extremity of the Solar System range and suggest a CI-like chondrite impactor. Δ17O values as low as -0.22‰ in irghizites, however, are incompatible with a CI-like impactor. We suggest that the observed 17O depletion in irghizites relative to the terrestrial range is caused by partial isotope exchange with atmospheric oxygen (Δ17O = -0.47‰) following material ejection. In contrast, combined Δ17O-ε54Cr data for central European tektites (distal ejecta) fall into the terrestrial range and neither impactor fingerprint nor oxygen isotope exchange with the atmosphere are indicated.Identifying the original impactor from craters remains challenging. Here, the authors use chromium and oxygen isotopes to indicate that the Zhamanshin astrobleme impactor was a carbonaceous chrondrite by demonstrating that depleted 17O values are due to exchange with atmospheric oxygen.