Article summary
AI generated
Understanding the processes that led to the origin of life on Earth remains a significant scientific challenge, particularly due to the lack of direct evidence from the early Earth. This study demonstrates that amino acids, which are crucial for life, can be synthesized from hydrocarbons and ammonium carbonate through radiolysis in a liquid water environment on a planetoid body, suggesting that similar processes may have occurred on early Earth and providing insights into the origins of life.
Abstract
Organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites can be separated into three fractions. The first component, the fraction that is insoluble in chloroform and methanol, has a part which is of interstellar origin (1). The other two fractions (chloroform-soluble hydrocarbons and methanol-soluble polar organics) are hypothesized to have been synthesized on a planetoid body (2). We propose that the polar organics, i.e., amino acids, were synthesized close to its surface by the radiolysis of hydrocarbons and ammonium carbonate in a liquid water environment. Some hydrocarbons may have been synthesized by a Fischer-Tropsch mechanism (3) in the interior of the body. Ferrous ion acted as a protection against back reactions. The simultaneous synthesis of iron-rich clays with the polar organics may be indicative of events related to the origin of life on Earth.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kerridge, J. (1983)Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 64, 186.
Bunch, T. E., Chang, S. (1980)Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 44, 1543.
Studier, M. H., Hayatsu, R., Anders E. (1968)Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 18, 151.
Nagy, B. (1975) Carbonaceous Meteorites. Elsevier.
Robert, F., Epstein, S. (1982)Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 46, 81.
Becker, R. H., Epstein, S. (1982)Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 46, 97.
Anders, E., Hayatsu, R., Studier, M. H. (1973)Science 182, 781.
Hartman, H. (1975)H. Mol. Evol. 4, 359.
Anders, E. (1963). Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.108, 514.
Bostrom, K., Fredriksson, K. (1966)Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 151, 3.
Lewis, J. S. (1967)Earth Planet. Sci. Letters 2, 29.
Lewis, J. S., Krouse, H. R. (1969)Earth Planet. Sci. Letters 5, 425.
Jones, T. D., Lebofsky, L. S., Lewis, J. S., Marley, M. S. (1990)Icarus 88, 172.
Lewis, J. S., Prinn, R. G. (1980)Astrophys. J. 238, 357.
Pisani, F. (1864).C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci 59, 132.
Schramm, L. S., Brownlee, D. E., Wheelock, M. M. (1989)Meteoritics 24, 99.
Rietmeijer, F. J. M. (1990)Meteoritics 25, 209.
Shoemaker, E. M., Williams, J. G., Helin, E. F., Wolfe, R. F. (1979). Asteroids, Ed. T. Gehrels, Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 253.
Cronin, J. R., Pizzarello, S. (1990).Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 54, 2859.
Yuen, G., Blair, N., Des Marais, D., Chang, S. (1984)Nature 307, 252.
Kurbanov, M. A., Klapishevskaya, Z. B., Timofeev, V. D., Morisov, E. A., Dzantiev, B. G., Dobrovol'skii, S. P., Zakharova, I. V. (1977)Khim. Vys. Energ. 11 (1, 83.
Lee, T. (1979)Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 17, 1591.
Getoff, N. G. (1962)Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isotop. 13, 205.
Lewis, J. S., Prinn, R. G. (1980)Astrophys. J. 238, 357.
Siffert, B. (1978), Int. Clay Conf., Eds. M. Mortland and V. Farmer, Elsevier, 337.
Paschke, R., Chang, R. W. H., Young, D. (1957)Science 125, 681.
Epstein, S., Krishnamurthy, R. V., Cronin, J. R., Pizzarello, S., Yuen, G. U. (1987)Nature 326, 477.
Fomenkova, M. N., Kerridge, J. F., Marti, K., McFadden, L.-A. (1992)Science 258, 266.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hartman, H., Sweeney, M.A., Kropp, M.A. et al. Carbonaceous chondrites and the origin of life. Origins Life Evol Biosphere 23, 221–227 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01581900
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01581900
