Scientists from Linz report that the basic building blocks of all living things can be created on meteorites and spread throughout space. An impactor on Earth, the “meteorite CV3 Allende”, contains a mineral that enables the production of proteins under space conditions. It stimulates the production of the precursor “ammonia”. Finished proteins can also be found on the space rock, they wrote in the specialist journal “Chemistry A European Journal”.
Wolfgang Schöfberger and Lucas Fernández from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Linz analyzed the rock of the Allende meteorite that fell over Mexico in 1969. The meteorite weighed several tons and shattered when it entered the atmosphere, landing on Earth in fragments. A part larger than the size of a fist is on display in the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Vienna, and much smaller pieces can be purchased in “meteorite shops.” The chemists identified the mineral “mackinawite” in the meteorite rock. It consists of iron, nickel and sulfur and forms crystals.
The mineral from the meteorite was able to catalyze the production of ammonia from elemental nitrogen in the laboratory under conditions that simulated space, explained Schöfberger in an interview with the APA. The reaction is stimulated “electrochemically”, i.e. by tiny electrical currents in the rock.
Ammonia has never been discovered in asteroids or meteorites
“Ammonia is a volatile gas and has never been discovered in asteroids or meteorites before,” says Fernández. It was the only missing piece of the puzzle; other important protein precursors – organic carbonyl compounds, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and cyanide (CN-) – had been detected in space samples for years. Proteins (amino acids) can be formed from the three elements through a chemical reaction first described by the German chemist Adolph Strecker in 1850.
Simple amino acids such as glycine and alanine were also found in the rock of the Allende meteorite and other impact bodies. “We now know how they get there,” said Schöfberger: “That is, by being produced directly there.” The entire production process works on the meteorite rock itself and was analyzed and described in detail by the researchers in the specialist publication.
Proteins can form in space
In space, it is therefore possible for proteins to form on asteroids, meteorites and comets without the involvement of any life forms. “Once formed, the proteins could have been transported to other planets and moons, spreading the necessary molecules for life throughout the solar system,” says Fernández. “This mechanism could not only have played a role on Earth, but may also have enabled life to emerge on planets in other star systems.”
The “Allende” meteorite is a rock from the asteroid belt that entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Mexico in the early morning of February 8, 1969. Enormous frictional heat and abrupt braking caused it to explode as a fireball that was visible from far away. Of the approximately five tons of fragments, one narrowly missed the post office in the town of Pueblito de Allende in the state of Chihuahua, after which the impactor was named. Three tons of these have already been collected, and another two tons are probably still scattered over an area of 500 square kilometers. There are 18,000 scientific publications about the rock from space, and you can buy fragments in meteorite shops for around 80 euros per gram. An Allende rock is on display in the “Meteorite Hall” at the NHM, along with 1,100 other rocks from space.
Service: https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202401856
Related News :