DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1930
论文题名: Shock synthesis of amino acids from impacting cometary and icy planet surface analogues
作者: Martins Z. ; Price M.C. ; Goldman N. ; Sephton M.A. ; Burchell M.J.
刊名: Nature Geoscience
ISSN: 17520894
出版年: 2013
卷: 6, 期: 12 起始页码: 1045
结束页码: 1049
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: amino acid
; comet
; hydrolysis
; ice
; planetary surface
; protein
; Saturn
; solar system
; spacecraft
英文摘要: Comets are known to harbour simple ices and the organic precursors of the building blocks of proteins - amino acids - that are essential to life. Indeed, glycine, the simplest amino acid, was recently confirmed to be present on comet 81P/Wild-2 from samples returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft. Impacts of icy bodies (such as comets) onto rocky surfaces, and, equally, impacts of rocky bodies onto icy surfaces (such as the jovian and saturnian satellites), could have been responsible for the manufacture of these complex organic molecules through a process of shock synthesis. Here we present laboratory experiments in which we shocked ice mixtures analogous to those found in a comet with a steel projectile fired at high velocities in a light gas gun to test whether amino acids could be produced. We found that the hypervelocity impact shock of a typical comet ice mixture produced several amino acids after hydrolysis. These include equal amounts of D- and L-alanine, and the non-protein amino acids α-aminoisobutyric acid and isovaline as well as their precursors. Our findings suggest a pathway for the synthetic production of the components of proteins within our Solar System, and thus a potential pathway towards life through icy impacts. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/106636
Appears in Collections: 气候减缓与适应 科学计划与规划
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作者单位: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NH, United Kingdom; Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, United States
Recommended Citation:
Martins Z.,Price M.C.,Goldman N.,et al. Shock synthesis of amino acids from impacting cometary and icy planet surface analogues[J]. Nature Geoscience,2013-01-01,6(12)