Prebiotic Synthesis of Adenine and Amino Acids Under Europa-like Conditions

Icarus

Volumn 145, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 609-613

  Levy, Matthew ^a   Miller, Stanley L ^a   Brinton, Karen ^b   Bada, Jeffrey L ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Cyanide polymerization; Europa; Prebiotic synthesis

Indexed keywords

ADENINE; AMINO ACID; AMMONIUM CYANIDE; CYANIDE; GUANINE; HYDROGEN CYANIDE; ICE;

ARTICLE; ASTRONOMY; BIOLOGY; CHEMISTRY; FREEZING; NASA DISCIPLINE EXOBIOLOGY; NON-NASA CENTER; SYNTHESIS;

NASA DISCIPLINE EXOBIOLOGY; NON-NASA CENTER;

ADENINE; AMINO ACIDS; CYANIDES; EVOLUTION, CHEMICAL; EXOBIOLOGY; FREEZING; GUANINE; HYDROGEN CYANIDE; ICE; JUPITER;

EID: 0034202840     PISSN: 00191035     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1006/icar.2000.6365     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Anders E. Pre-biotic organic matter from comets and asteroids. Nature. 342:1989;255-257.
2. Anderson J. D., Lau E. L., Sjogren W. L., Schubert G., Moore W. B. Europa's differentiated internal structure: Inferences from two Galileo encounters. Science. 276:1997;1236-1239.
3. Anderson J. D., Schubert G., Jacobson R. A., Lau E. L., Brown W. B., Sjogren W. L. Europa's differentiated internal structure: Inferences from four Galileo encounters. Science. 281:1998;2019-2022.
4. Bada J. L., Bigham C., Miller S. L. Impact melting of frozen oceans on the early Earth-Implications for the origin of life. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 91:1994;1248-1250.
5. Bada J. L., Glavin D. P., McDonald G. D., Becker L. A search for endogenous amino acids in martian meteorite ALH84001. Science. 279:1998;362-365.
6. Carr M. H., Belton M. J. S., Chapman C. R., Davies A. S., Geissler P., Greenberg R., McEwen A. S., Tufts B. R., Greeley R., Sullivan R., Head J. W., Pappalardo R. T., Klaasen K. P., Johnson T. V., Kaufman J., Senske D., Moore J., Neukum G., Schubert G., Burns J. A., Thomas P., Veverka J. Evidence for a subsurface ocean on Europa. Nature. 391:1998;363-365.
7. Chyba C. F. Life on other moons. Nature. 385:1997;201.
8. Chyba C., Sagan C. Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules - An inventory for the origins of life. Nature. 355:1992;125-132.
9. Colwell J. E., Horványi M., Grün E. Capture of interplanetary and interstellar dust by the jovian magnetosphere. Science. 280:1998;88-91.
10. Consolmagno G. J., Lewis J. S. The evolution of icy satellite interiors and surfaces. Icarus. 34:1978;278-293.
11. Cronin, J. R., and S. Chang1993. Organic matter in meteorites: Molecular and isotopic analyses of the Murchison meteorite. In The Chemistry of Life's OriginsJ. M. Greenberg, C. X. Mendoza-Gomez, and V. Pirronello, Eds., pp. 209-258. Kluwer Academic, Netherlands.
12. Cronin, J. R., S. Pizzarello, and D. P. Cruikshank1988. Organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites, planetary satellites, asteroids and comets. In Meteorites and the Early Solar SystemJ. F. Kerridge and M. S. Matthews, Eds., pp. 819-857. Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.
13. Engrand C., Maurette M. Carbonaceous micrometeorites from Antarctica. Meteoritics Planet. Sci. 33:1998;565-580.
14. Ferris J. P., Joshi P. C., Edelson E. H., Lawless J. G. HCN: A plausible source of purines, pyrimidines and amino acids on the primitive Earth. J. Mol. Evol. 11:1978;293-311.
15. Ferris J. P., Edelson E. H., Auyeung J. M., Joshi P. C. Structural studies of HCN oligomers. J. Mol. Evol. 17:1981;69-77.
16. Hamel R. A., Conrath B., Flaser F. M., Kunde V., Maguire W., Pearl J., Pirragha J., Samuelson R., Herath L., Allison M., Cruikshank D., Gautier D., Gierasch P., Horn L., Koppany R., Ponnamperuma C. Infrared observations of the saturian system from Voyager 1. Science. 212:1981;192-200.
17. Kargel J. S. The salt of Europa. Science. 278:1998;1211-1212.
18. Khurana K. K., Kivelson M. G., Stevenson D. J., Schubert G., Russell C. T., Walker R. J., Polanskey C. Induced magnetic fields as evidence for subsurface oceans in Europa and Callisto. Nature. 395:1998;777-780.
19. 4CN polymerizations. J. Mol. Evol. 49:1999;165-168.
20. Lewis J. S. Satellites of the outer planets: Their physical and chemical nature. Icarus. 15:1971;174-185.
21. Love S. G., Brownlee D. E. A direct measurement of the terrestrial mass accretion rate of cosmic dust. Science. 262:1993;550-553.
22. Matthews C. N. Dark matter in the Solar System: Hydrogen cyanide polymers. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 21:1992;421-434.
23. McCord T. B., Carlson R. W, Smythe W. D., Hansen G. B., Clark R. N., Hibbitts C. A., Fanale F. P., Granahan J. C., Segura M., Matson D. L., Johnson T. V., Martin P. D. Organics and other molecules in the surfaces of Callisto and Ganymede. Science. 278:1997;271-275.
24. McCord T. B., Hansen G. B., Clark R. N., Martin P. D., Hibbitts C. A., Fanale F. P., Granahan J. C., Segura M., Matson D. L., Johnson T. V., Carlson R. W., Smythe W. D., Danielson G. E. Non-water-ice constituents in the surface material of the icy Galilean satellites from the Galileo near-infrared mapping spectrometer investigation. J. Geophys. Res. 103:1998b;8603-8626.
25. McCord T. B., Hansen G. B., Fanale F. P., Carlson R. W., Matson D. L., Johnson T. V., Smythe W. D., Crowley J. K., Martin P. D., Ocampo A., Hibbitts C. A., Granahan J. C. Salts on Europa's surface detected by Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. Science. 278:1998a;1242-1245.
26. McKay C. P., Borucki W. J. Organic synthesis in experimental impact shocks. Science. 276:1997;390-392.
27. McKinnon W. B. Sighting the seas of Europa. Nature. 386:1997;765-767.
28. Mumma, M. J., P. R. Weissman, and S. A. Stern1993. Comets and the origin of the Solar System: Reading the rosetta stone. In Protostars and Planets IIIE. H. Levy and J. I. Lunine, Eds., pp. 1177-1252. Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.
29. Oró J. Synthesis of adenine from hydrogen cyanide. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2:1960;407-412.
30. Oró J., Kamat S. S. Amino-acid synthesis from hydrogen cyanide under possible primitive earth conditions. Nature. 190:1961;442-443.
31. Owen T. The atmosphere of Titan. J. Mol. Evol. 18:1982;150-156.
32. Pappalardo R. T., Head J. W., Greeley R. The hidden ocean of Europa. Scientific American. 281:1999;54-63.
33. Reynolds R. T., Squyres S. W., Colburn D. S., McKay C. P. On the habitability of Europa. Icarus. 56:1983;246-254.
34. Ring D., Wolman Y., Friedmann F., Miller S. L. Prebiotic synthesis of hydrophobic and protein amino acids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 69:1972;765-768.
35. Sanchez R., Ferris J., Orgel L. E. Conditions for purine synthesis: Did prebiotic synthesis occur at low temperatures? Science. 153:1966;72-73.
36. Schwartz A. W., Joosten H., Voet A. B. Prebiotic adenine synthesis via HCN oligomerization in ice. BioSystems. 15:1982;191-193.
37. Stribling R., Miller S. L. Energy yields for hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde syntheses: The HCN and amino acid concentrations in the primitive oceans. Orig. Life. 17:1987;261-273.
38. Wilson L., Head J. W., Pappalardo R. T. Eruption of lava flows on Europa: Theory and application to thrace macula. J. Geophy. Res. 102:1997;9263-9272.
39. Wolman Y., Haverland W. J., Miller S. L. Non-protein amino acids from spark discharges and their comparison with the Murchison meteorite amino acids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 69:1972;809-811.
40. Yuasa S., Flory D., Basile B., Oró J. On the abiotic formation of amino acids, I. HCN as a precursor of amino acids detected in extracts of lunar samples, II. Formation of HCN and amino acids from simulated mixtures of gases released from lunar samples. J. Mol. Evol. 20:1984a;52-58.
41. Yuasa S., Flory D., Basile B., Oró J. Abiotic synthesis of purines and other heterocyclic compounds by the action of electrical discharges. J. Mol. Evol. 21:1984b;76-80.