[meteorite-list] Diamino Acids Found For The First Time In A Meteorite (Murchison Meteorite)

[Ron Baalke]

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8223/8223earlyscicon.html

Diamino acids in meteorite
SARA DRAKE
Chemical & Engineering News
June 10, 2004                        
                        
For the first time, diamino acids have been discovered in a 
meteorite. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, a 
team led by Uwe J. Meierhenrich of the University of Bremen, 
in Germany, has identified seven diamino acids-including D- and
L-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid, D- and L-2,4-diaminobutanoic acid,
3,3'-diaminoisobutanoic acid, 2,3-diaminobutanoic acid, and 
4,4'-diaminoisopentanoic acid-in the Murchison chondritic 
meteorite [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101, 9182 (2004)]. 
Previously, researchers found individual amino acids in the 
Murchison meteorite.

Amino acids arriving on Earth through similar avenues are 
thought to have triggered life's beginnings. Diamino acids 
may also have played a role in the development of life on
Earth. They are the backbone of peptide nucleic acid 
materials thought to have preceded both RNA and DNA in 
early life. This new work suggests that diamino acids had
extraterrestrial origins and may have arrived on Earth via 
meteorites during prebiotic times.