On the reported optical activity of amino acids in the Murchison meteorite

In analyses of extracts from the Murchison meteorite (a carbonaceous chondrite), Engel and Nagy1 reported an excess of L-enantiomers for several protein amino acids but found that the non-protein amino acids were racemic. They suggested that the excess of L-isomers might have resulted from an asymmetric synthesis or decomposition. Their results disagree with those obtained previously2–4 and they claim this is due to improved methodology. In fact, their extraction method and analytical procedure (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, GC–MS) was similar to those used in the original report2 of amino acids in the Murchison meteorite except that they used specific ion monitoring in the GC–MS measurements. We found the results of Engel and Nagy odd in that likely contaminants (the protein amino acids ala, leu, glu, asp and pro) were nonracemic while unlikely contaminants (isovaline and α-amino-n-butyric acid) were racemic. For example, Engel and Nagy report that the leucine is ∼90% L-enantiomer in the water-extracted sample whereas isovaline (α-methyl-α-aminobutyric acid) is racemic. It would be most unusual for an abiotic stereoselective decomposition or synthesis of amino acids to occur with protein amino acids but not with non-protein amino acids. We now show here that the explanation of terrestrial contamination is consistent with their results and is much more probable.

[1]  K. Kvenvolden,et al.  Evidence for Extraterrestrial Amino-acids and Hydrocarbons in the Murchison Meteorite , 1970, Nature.

[2]  M. Engel,et al.  Distribution and enantiomeric composition of amino acids in the Murchison meteorite , 1982, Nature.

[3]  A. Morton,et al.  Amino acid composition of fungi during development in submerged culture. , 1964, Biochemical Journal.

[4]  J. Oró,et al.  Free Amino-Acids on Human Fingers: The Question of Contamination in Microanalysis , 1965, Nature.

[5]  R. Jost,et al.  Racemization of free and protein-bound amino acids in strong mineral acid. , 2009, International journal of peptide and protein research.

[6]  G. Pollock,et al.  Determination of the D and L isomers of some protein amino acids present in soils. , 1977, Analytical chemistry.

[7]  W. Meinschein Biogeochemistry of amino acids , 1981 .

[8]  K. Kvenvolden,et al.  Nonprotein amino acids in the murchison meteorite. , 1971, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[9]  James G. Lawless,et al.  Amino acids in the Murchison meteorite , 1973 .

[10]  A. Kornberg,et al.  Biochemical studies of bacterial sporulation and germination. 18. Free amino acids in spores. , 1970, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[11]  J. Bada,et al.  Racemization reaction of aspartic Acid and its use in dating fossil bones. , 1973, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[12]  A. Oparin [The origin of life]. , 1938, Nordisk medicin.

[13]  F. Sanger,et al.  Halogenation of tyrosine during acid hydrolysis. , 1963, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[14]  J. Oró,et al.  Configuration of Amino-acids in Carbonaceous Chondrites and a Pre-Cambrian Chert , 1971, Nature.

[15]  R. Doolittle Similar amino acid sequences: chance or common ancestry? , 1981, Science.

[16]  K. Kvenvolden,et al.  Monocarboxylic Acids in Murray and Murchison Carbonaceous Meteorites , 1973, Nature.

[17]  G. Reeck,et al.  A statistical analysis of the amino acid compositions of proteins. , 2009, International journal of peptide and protein research.

[18]  J. Holden Amino acid pools , 1962 .

[19]  T. Tornabene,et al.  Bacterial Contamination of Some Carbonaceous Meteorites , 1965, Science.

[20]  John M. Hayes,et al.  Organic constituents of meteorites - A review. , 1967 .

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

[22]  E. Peltzer,et al.  Determination of Amino Acid Enantiomeric Ratios by Gas Liquid Chromatography of the N-Trifluoroacetyl-L-Prolyl-Peptide Methyl Esters , 1978 .