With precise analysis of the products recovered after impacts, the team found the formation of nucleobases and amino acids from inorganic compounds. The research is reported this week in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
All the genetic information of modern life is stored in DNA as sequences of nucleobases. However, formation of nucleobases from inorganic compounds available on prebiotic Earth had been considered to be difficult.
In 2009, this team reported the formation of the simplest amino acid, glycine, by simulating meteorite impacts. This time, they replaced the carbon source with bicarbonate and conducted hypervelocity impact experiments at 1 km/s using a single stage propellant gun.
They found the formation of a far larger variety of life's building blocks, including two kinds of nucleobases and nine kinds of proteinogenic amino acids. The results suggest a new route for how genetic molecules may have first formed on Earth.
Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Tohoku University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
- Furukawa Y., Nakazawa H., Sekine T., Kobayashi T., Kakegawa T. Nucleobases and amino acids formation through impacts of meteorites on the early ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.20015.07.049
Comment: With the increased frequency of meteors entering our atmosphere in recent years, one might wonder what they might be bringing with them, and the effects on earth of their overhead airbursts and impacts.