Concentration and variability of the AIB amino acid in polar micrometeorites: Implications for the exogenous delivery of amino acids to the primitive Earth

Details Concentration and variability of the AIB amino acid in polar micrometeorites: Implications for the exogenous delivery of amino acids to the primitive Earth Concentration and variability of the AIB amino acid in polar micrometeorites: Implications for the exogenous delivery of amino acids to the primitive Earth

Nov 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004m%26ps...39.1849m&link_type=abstract

Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Vol. 39, No. 11, p.1849-1858

Biology

12

Scientific paper

Micrometeorites (MMs) are extraterrestrial particles ranging in size from 25 ?m to 2 mm that survive atmospheric entry and are collected on the Earth's surface. They represent the largest mass flux (MF) of extraterrestrial material (30,000 +/- 20,000 t/yr) to the present-day Earth. Studies of large collections of micrometeorites suggest that about 20% have not been heated to high temperatures and that they contain organic carbon. Since non-protein amino acids have been found in some carbonaceous meteorites, they might also be found in unmelted micrometeorites. However, previous searches for amino acids in micrometeorites were inconclusive. We combined a new extraction method for amino acids with a highly sensitive analytical method to detect and quantitate amino acids in micrometeorites collected at the South Pole. We found the non-protein amino acid ?-amino isobutyric acid (AIB) in one of our samples. The non-detection of this amino acid in the other samples analyzed suggests that there are amino acid-containing and amino acid-free micrometeorites, with ~14% of the micrometeorites containing AIB. Since the MF of micrometeorites is much higher than that of carbonaceous chondrites (CMs), amino acids in these small particles would represent an important source of exogenous delivery of organic molecules. Therefore, the results are discussed on the basis of their implications for astrobiology.

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