Prebiotic Synthesis of Methionine and Other Sulfur-Containing Organic Compounds on the Primitive Earth: A Contemporary Reassessment Based on an Unpublished 1958 Stanley Miller Experiment |
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Authors: | Eric T Parker H James Cleaves Michael P Callahan Jason P Dworkin Daniel P Glavin Antonio Lazcano Jeffrey L Bada |
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Institution: | (1) Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA;(2) Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA;(3) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar System Exploration Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA;(4) Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407 Cd. Universitaria, 04510 Mexico D. F., Mexico;(5) Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, 8615 Kennel Way, La Jolla, CA 92093-0212, USA;(6) Present address: School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; |
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Abstract: | Original extracts from an unpublished 1958 experiment conducted by the late Stanley L. Miller were recently found and analyzed
using modern state-of-the-art analytical methods. The extracts were produced by the action of an electric discharge on a mixture
of methane (CH4), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), and carbon dioxide (CO2). Racemic methionine was formed in significant yields, together with other sulfur-bearing organic compounds. The formation
of methionine and other compounds from a model prebiotic atmosphere that contained H2S suggests that this type of synthesis is robust under reducing conditions, which may have existed either in the global primitive
atmosphere or in localized volcanic environments on the early Earth. The presence of a wide array of sulfur-containing organic
compounds produced by the decomposition of methionine and cysteine indicates that in addition to abiotic synthetic processes,
degradation of organic compounds on the primordial Earth could have been important in diversifying the inventory of molecules
of biochemical significance not readily formed from other abiotic reactions, or derived from extraterrestrial delivery. |
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