Excess of l-alanine in amino acids synthesized in a plasma torch generated by a hypervelocity meteorite impact reproduced in the laboratory
Open accessAbstract
We present a laboratory reproduction of hypervelocity impacts of a carbon containing meteorite on a mineral substance representative of planetary surfaces. The physical conditions of the resulting impact plasma torch provide favorable conditions for abiogenic synthesis of protein amino acids: We identified glycine and alanine, and in smaller quantities serine, in the produced material. Moreover, we observe breaking of alanine mirror symmetry with L excess, which coincides with the bioorganic world. Therefore the selection of L-amino acids for the formation of proteins for living matter could have been the result from plasma processes occurring during the impact meteorites on the surface. This indicates that the plasma torch from meteorite impacts could play an important role in the formation of biomolecular homochirality. Thus, meteorite impacts possibly were the initial stage of this process and promoted conditions for the emergence of a living matter.
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The impact generated a pressure of 170 GPa and a temperature of 3 to 4×10^4 K, enough to form a plasma torch, through the interaction between the projectile and target materials and their subsequent atomization and ionization.
“The impact generated a pressure of 170 GPa and a temperature of 3 to 4 Â 10 4 K, enough to form a plasma torch, through the interaction between the projectile and target materials and their subsequent atomization and ionization.”
From Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality (2022) · cites this paper as [165]
The most striking result is the formation of 13C-enriched alanine which is claimed to be obtained with e.e. values ranging from 7 to 25%.
“The most striking result is certainly the formation of 13 C-enriched alanine which is claimed to be obtained with e.e. values ranging from 7 to 25%.”
From Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality (2022) · cites this paper as [165]
A meteorite impact was reproduced in the laboratory by Wurz and co-workers in 2016 by firing projectiles of pure 13C synthetic diamond to a multilayer target consisting of ammonium nitrate, graphite and steel.
“A meteorite impact was reproduced in the laboratory by Wurz and co-workers in 2016, 165 by firing projectiles of pure 13 C synthetic diamond to a multilayer target consisting of ammonium nitrate, graphite and steel.”
From Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality (2022) · cites this paper as [165]
Cites
Chiral selection in poly(C)-directed synthesis of oligo(G)
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Carbon isotope composition of individual amino acids in the Murchison meteorite
Engel, M. H., Macko, S. A., & Silfer, J. A. (1990) · Nature · doi:10.1038/348047a0 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Self-citationTrue and false chirality and absolute asymmetric synthesis
Barron, L. D. (1986) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja00278a029 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Shock synthesis of amino acids from impacting cometary and icy planet surface analogues
Martins, Z., Price, M. C., Goldman, N., Sephton, M. A., & Burchell, M. J. (2013) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo1930 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry in nature and the origin of life
Gol'danskiĭ, V. I., & Kuz'min, V. V. (1989) · Soviet Physics Uspekhi · doi:10.1070/pu1989v032n01abeh002674 · Cited by 94 · cited 1× · see citing works
“CPL and systems far away from thermodynamic equilibrium have been recognized as advantage factors to cause chiral symmetry breaking (Gol’danskii and Kuz’min, 1989; Avetisov and Goldanskii, 1996).”
BackgroundNucleobase and amino acid formation through impacts of meteorites on the early ocean
Furukawa, Y., Nakazawa, H., Sekine, T., Kobayashi, T., & Kakegawa, T. (2015) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.07.049 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
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Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality
Sallembien, Q., Bouteiller, L., Crassous, J., & Raynal, M. (2022) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/d1cs01179k · Cited by 186 · see citing works
- Authors
- Managadze, G. G., Engel, M. H., Getty, S., Wurz, P., Brinckerhoff, W. B., Shokolov, A. G., Sholin, G. V., Terent'ev, S. A., Chumikov, A. E., Skalkin, A. S., Blank, V. D., Prokhorov, V. M., Managadze, N. G., & Luchnikov, K. A.
- Affiliations
- Space Research Institute (RU)
- University of Oklahoma (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Central Research Institute for Machine Building (RU)
- Kurchatov Institute (RU)
- Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (RU)
- Corresponding author
- Wurz, Peter
- ORCID
- Venue
- Planetary and Space Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 131
- Pages
- 70-78
- ISSN
- 0032-0633 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7430501
- OpenAlex
- W2486777756
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 0.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Planetary and Space Science (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- NASA STI Repository (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) (submittedVersion)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (22)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (200020_153047)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- amino acid synthesis, hypervelocity impact, plasma torch, glycine, serine, homochirality, origin of life, planetary surfaces
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