Relative Amino Acid Concentrations as a Signature for Parent Body Processes of Carbonaceous Chondrites

Most meteorites are thought to have originated from objects in the asteroid belt. Carbonaceous chondrites, which contain significant amounts of organic carbon including complex organiccompounds, have also been suggested to be derived from comets. The current model for the synthesis of organic compounds found in carbonaceous chondrites includes the survival of interstellarorganic compounds and the processing of some of these compounds on the meteoritic parent body. The amino acid composition of fiveCM carbonaceous chondrites, two CIs, one CR, and one CV3 havebeen measured using hot water extraction-vapor hydrolysis,OPA/NAC derivatization and high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). Total amino acid abundances in the bulk meteorites as well as the amino acid concentrations relative to glycine = 1.0for β-alanine, α-aminoisobutyric acid and D-alaninewere determined. Additional data for three Antarctic CM meteorites were obtained from the literature. All CM meteoritesanalyzed in this study show a complex distribution of amino acidsand a high variability in total concentration ranging from ∼15 300 to ∼5800 parts per billion (ppb), while the CIs show a total amino acid abundance of ∼4300 ppb. The relatively(compared to glycine) high AIB content found in all the CMs is astrong indicator that Strecker-cyanohydrin synthesis is thedominant pathway for the formation of amino acids found inthese meteorites. The data from the Antarctic CM carbonaceous chondrites are inconsistent with the results from the other CMs,perhaps due to influences from the Antarctic ice that were effective during their residence time. In contrast to CMs, the data from the CI carbonaceous chondrites indicate that the Strecker synthesis was not active on their parent bodies.

[1]  S. Pizzarello,et al.  Non-racemic amino acids in the Murray and Murchison meteorites. , 2000, Geochimica et cosmochimica acta.

[2]  A. Bischoff,et al.  Carbonates in CI chondrites: clues to parent body evolution. , 1996, Geochimica et cosmochimica acta.

[3]  E. Anders,et al.  Chemical Evolution of the Carbonaceous Chondrites , 1962 .

[4]  P. E. Hare,et al.  Organic Analysis of the Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrites , 1981 .

[5]  A. Rubin,et al.  THE COMPOSITIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF CHONDRITES. VI: THE CR CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITE GROUP , 1994 .

[6]  H. Campins,et al.  Expected characteristics of cometary meteorites , 1997 .

[7]  S. Pizzarello,et al.  Amino Acids in an Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrite , 1979, Science.

[8]  P. Cassen,et al.  Astronomical constraints on nebular temperatures: Implications for planetesimal formation , 1999 .

[9]  R. Clayton,et al.  The oxygen isotope record in Murchison and other carbonaceous chondrites , 1984 .

[10]  Carl Sagan,et al.  Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: an inventory for the origins of life , 1992, Nature.

[11]  J L Bada,et al.  Prebiotic synthesis of adenine and amino acids under Europa-like conditions. , 2000, Icarus.

[12]  A. Rubin,et al.  The compositional classification of chondrites: VII. The R chondrite group , 1996 .

[13]  S. Pizzarello,et al.  Enantiomeric Excesses in Meteoritic Amino Acids , 1997, Science.

[14]  M. Zolensky,et al.  Evidence of Thermal Metamorphism on the C, G, B, and F Asteroids , 1993, Science.

[15]  T. Burbine.  Could G‐class asteroids be the parent bodies of the CM chondrites? , 1998 .

[16]  E. Cloutis,et al.  Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Primitive Solar System Objects , 1994 .

[17]  William K. Hartmann,et al.  The relationship of active comets, 'extinct' comets, and dark asteroids , 1987 .

[18]  S. Pizzarello,et al.  Alanine enantiomers in the Murchison meteorite , 1998, Nature.

[19]  Ronald A. Nieman,et al.  The Organic Content of the Tagish Lake Meteorite , 2001, Science.

[20]  J L Bada,et al.  The chemical conditions on the parent body of the Murchison meteorite: some conclusions based on amino, hydroxy and dicarboxylic acids. , 1984, Advances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research.

[21]  D P Glavin,et al.  Amino acids in the Martian meteorite Nakhla. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[22]  H. McSween.  Are carbonaceous chondrites primitive or processed? A review , 1979 .

[23]  S. Macko,et al.  Isotopic evidence for extraterrestrial non- racemic amino acids in the Murchison meteorite , 1997, Nature.

[24]  Pascale Ehrenfreund,et al.  A voyage from dark clouds to the early Earth , 2000 .

[25]  A. Brack,et al.  Were micrometeorites a source of prebiotic molecules on the early Earth? , 1995, Advances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research.

[26]  Michael E. Zolensky,et al.  The Tagish Lake Meteorite: A Possible Sample from a D-Type Asteroid , 2001, Science.

[27]  M. Levy,et al.  Peptide nucleic acids rather than RNA may have been the first genetic molecule. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[28]  J. Bada,et al.  Extraterrestrial Organic Compounds in Meteorites , 2002 .

[29]  F. Herbert,et al.  Primordial metamorphism of asteroids via electrical induction in A T Tauri-like solar wind , 1978 .

[30]  A. Markwick.  Astrochemistry: from Molecular Clouds to Planetary Systems , 2005 .

[31]  Gerhard Kminek,et al.  Amino acids in the Tagish Lake meteorite , 2002 .

[32]  Keizo Yanai,et al.  AMINO ACIDS FROM THE YAMATO-791198 CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITE FROM ANTARCTICA , 1985 .

[33]  C. Moore,et al.  Amino Acid Analyses of the Murchison, Murray, and Allende Carbonaceous Chondrites , 1971, Science.

[34]  M. Zolensky,et al.  Thermal metamorphism of the C, G, B, and F asteroids seen from the 0.7 μm, 3 μm, and UV absorption strengths in comparison with carbonaceous chondrites , 1996 .

[35]  L. Leshin,et al.  The oxygen isotopic composition of olivine and pyroxene from CI chondrites , 1997 .

[36]  Katharina Lodders,et al.  Perspectives on the Comet-Asteroid-Meteorite Link , 1999 .

[37]  E. Anders,et al.  Pre-biotic organic matter from comets and asteroids , 1989, Nature.

[38]  M Smith,et al.  Near infrared spectroscopy. , 1999, British journal of anaesthesia.

[39]  E. Dishoeck,et al.  Astrochemistry: From Molecular Clouds to Planetary Systems , 2000 .

[40]  Sherwood Chang,et al.  Organic matter in meteorites: molecular and isotopic analyses of the Murchison meteorite. , 1993 .

[41]  D P Glavin,et al.  Extraterrestrial amino acids in Orgueil and Ivuna: Tracing the parent body of CI type carbonaceous chondrites , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.