Singh, SV and Vishakantaiah, J and Meka, JK and Sivaprahasam, V and Chandrasekaran, V and Thombre, R and Thiruvenkatam, V and Mallya, A and Rajasekhar, BN and Muruganantham, M and Datey, A and Hill, H and Bhardwaj, A and Jagadeesh, G and Reddy, KPJ and Mason, NJ and Sivaraman, B (2020) Shock processing of amino acids leading to complex structures—implications to the origin of life. In: Molecules, 25 (23).
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Abstract
The building blocks of life, amino acids, are believed to have been synthesized in the extreme conditions that prevail in space, starting from simple molecules containing hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. However, the fate and role of amino acids when they are subjected to similar processes largely remain unexplored. Here we report, for the first time, that shock processed amino acids tend to form complex agglomerate structures. Such structures are formed on timescales of about 2 ms due to impact induced shock heating and subsequent cooling. This discovery suggests that the building blocks of life could have self-assembled not just on Earth but on other planetary bodies as a result of impact events. Our study also provides further experimental evidence for the ‘threads’ observed in meteorites being due to assemblages of (bio)molecules arising from impact-induced shocks. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Molecules |
| Publisher: | MDPI AG |
| Additional Information: | The copyright for this article belongs to The Author(s). |
| Keywords: | amino acid, astronomy; biogenesis; chemistry; macromolecule, Amino Acids; Earth, Planet; Macromolecular Substances; Meteoroids; Origin of Life |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2023 05:19 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jan 2023 05:19 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/78974 |
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