Exobiological Aspects of Carbonaceous Chondrites: Annotated Bibliography, Section VII
by Norman Redington and Karen Ræ Keck
NOTE: Please send us any references we may have missed. This project is being updated often. redingtn@mit.edu
Amino Acids + Amino Acids at the KT Boundary
G. Mueller, 1953 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 4:1.
E.T. Degens and M. Bajor, 1962 Naturwissenschaften 49:605.
I.R. Kaplan, et al., 1963 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 27:805.
P.B. Hamilton, 1965 Nature 205:284.
J. Oró and H.B. Skewes, 1965 Nature 207:1042.
K.A. Kvenvolden, et al., 1970 Nature 228:923.
J. Oró, et al., 1971 Nature 230:105.
J.G. Lawless, et al., 1971 Science 173:626.
J.G. Lawless, et al., 1972 Nature 236:66.
M. Ageno, 1972 Journal of Theoretical Biology 37:187.
F.B. Reed, 1973 Journal of Theoretical Biology 39:683.
J.G. Lawless, 1973 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 37:2207.
J.R. Cronin, 1976 Origins of Life 7:337 and 341.
J.R. Cronin and C.B. Moore, 1976 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 40:853.
R.K. Kotra, et al., 1979 Journal of Molecular Evolution 13:179.
G. Holzer and J. Oró, 1979 Journal of Molecular Evolution 13:265.
A. Shimoyama, et al., 1979 Nature 282:394.
J.R. Cronin, et al., 1981 Journal of Molecular Evolution 17:265.
R.K. Kotra, et al., 1981 in Y. Wolman, ed., Origin of Life (Reidel, Dordrecht).
M.H. Engel and B. Nagy, 1982 Nature 296:837.
C.T. Pillinger, 1982 Nature 296:802.
J. Bada et al, 1983 Nature 301:494.
J.R. Cronin and S. Pizzarello, 1986 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50:2419.
A. Shimoyama, et al., 1986 Origins of Life 16:215.
S. Epstein, et al., 1987 Nature 326:477.
J.R. Cronin, et al., 1988 in J.F. Kerridge and M.S. Matthews, eds., Meteorites and the Early Solar System (University of Arizona).
J. R. Cronin, 1989 Nature 339:423 News report on Zhao and Bada's KT boundary work. Expresses surprise that amino acids could survive an impact; urges isotopic and other tests be used to verify the extraterrestrial origin of the acids.
M.H. Engel, et al., 1990 Nature 348:47.
S. Pizzarello, et al., 1991 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 55:905.
J.L. Bada. 1991 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B333:349.
S.L. Miller and J.L. Bada, 1993 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 57:3473.
J. Bada et al, 1986 Origins of Life 16:185.
M. Zhao and J. Bada 1989 Nature 339:463. Report discovery of rare racemic amino acids typical of carbonaceous chondrites near (but a little above) the KT boundary in Denmark. Take this to be evidence of late Cretaceous impact event, although ratio of amino acids to iridium seems extraordinarily large.
J. R. Cronin, 1989 Nature 339:423 News report on Zhao and Bada's KT boundary work. Expresses surprise that amino acids could survive an impact; urges isotopic and other tests be used to verify the extraterrestrial origin of the acids.
K. Zahnle and D. Grinspoon, 1990 Nature 348:157.
E. S. Olson, 1992, Nature 357:202 Argues that the KT boundary amino acids are not extraterrestrial, but the result of coal gasification by volcanism.
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AMINO ACIDS:
Reports on organic content of Cold Bokkeveld carbonaceous chondrite. It is optically neutral, suggesting that organic matter formed abiotically from the atmosphere of the parent body.
Report finding amino acids and sugars in the Bruderheim and Murray stones, distributed differently from on earth. However, say that for theoretical reasons, these results should be attributed to either an abiogenic origin or to contamination.
Report amino acids and sugars in eight carbonaceous chondrites, five ordinary chondrites, and the Norton County achondrite. No optical rotation was detected--nor were pigments nor fatty acids. The distribution pattern of amino acids also seemed nonbiological.
Finds that human skin is a major source of amino acid contamination of analytical samples in general.
Study the question of amino acid contamination of microsamples (in general) by human skin. Conclude that most reported carbonaceous chondrite amino acids are contamination.
Report that amino acids and other organic molecules on Murchison carbonaceous chondrite are extraterrestrial because they are racemic, have an unusual isotope distribution, and include non-protein species rare on Earth.
Reports discovery of amino acids, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. They are approximately racemic, suggesting a non-biological origin.
Identify 17 amino acids in the Murray meteorite. Seven are racemic; eleven are not found in protein.
Mass spectroscopy and gas chromatography are used to identify amino acids in the Orgueil sample, probably not contaminants.
An article on biological asymmetry. Remarks in passing that the racemic nature of meteorite amino acids shows them to be non-biological.
Attacks Ageno's paper on racemization because the same argument would prove fossil shells or bones are abiotic. (They, too, are racemic because of their age.)
Report on amino acids isolated from Murchison carbonaceous chondrite.
Reports that twice as much amino acid can be extracted from the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite by subjecting samples to acid hydrolysis. This could mean either that more amino acids exist in rock than previously thought or that precursors exist which form amino acids in extraction process.
Amino acids reported in extracts from Nogoya and Mokoia carbonaceous chondrites. The Nogoya extract differs from previously studied samples.
ALH-77306, a carbonaceous chondrite from Antarctica, contains racemized amino acids, both protein and non-protein.
Antarctic meteorite ALH77306, a carbonaceous chondrite, contains a low level of racemic amino acids. The organic content of the stone on pyrolysis resembles the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite.
Report discovery of racemic amino acids in the Antarctic Yamato carbonaceous chondrite.
Report on amino acids extracted from Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. Their properties are found to differ from those of acids created in electric disharge and Fischer-Tropsch experiments.
Report identification of extraterrestrial amino acids in ALH-77306 and Yamato 74662 carbonaceous chondrites.
Reports finding apparently indigenous amino acids in Murchison carbonaceous chondrite which, however, are non-racemic.
Reviews history of amino acid findings in carbonaceous chondrites, which until Engel and Nagy's report of 1982 were always said to be racemic (unlike biological amino acids.)
Attack Engel and Nagy, 1982, pointing out that a more likely explanation for the fact that only the protein amino acids are non-racemic is that they are terrestrial contaminants.
Engel and Nagy reply that they had made no speculations, just reported their results, and defend their analytic technique.
55 amino acids have been found in Murchison carbonaceous chondrite; 36 unique to meteorites.
Report finding amino acids, carboxylic acids, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in Antarctic carbonaceous chondrite Yamato-791198, but not in two others.
Reports finding unusual ratio of isotopes in amino and carboxylic acids from the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite, confirming their extraterrestrial origin and suggesting they formed in interstellar clouds.
Report 74 amino acids in the Murchison meteorite.
Isotopic analysis establishes extraterrestrial origin of amino acids on Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. The fact that there is an asymmetry between optical isomers suggests optically active materials predate existence of life.
Try to show that the isotope enrichment of the amino acids in the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite is a real effect, residing in the amino acids and not in some other component of the meteorite.
Review article on amino acids in meteorites. Argues that the racemic nature of meteoritic acids suggest that amino acid chirality only arose after life was well-established on Earth.
Argue against Shock and Schulte 1990 that abundance of amino acids in Murchison meteorite is not correlated with solubility, nor should it be.
Shock and Schulte reply: they say their work is being misrepresented here.
Suggest that alpha-amino isobutyric acid is associated with the KT boundary. If so, might earlier impacts have introduced the amino acids necessary for the appearance of life?
Suggest that extraterrestrial amino acids at KT boundary not part of the impacting body (a giant comet), but in dust deposited by it before or after impact -- hence their displacement from the boundary itself.
Overviews + Carbon Allotropes + Carbonates + Various Organic Substances, Hydrocarbons, and Kerogen + Carboxylic Acids + Carbohydrates + Nitrogen Compounds + Aromatic Compounds and Nucleotides + Pollen + Optical Activity + Organized Structures and Life
Amino Acids + Amino Acids at the KT Boundary