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- Title
Insights into the formation and evolution of extraterrestrial amino acids from the asteroid Ryugu.
- Authors
Potiszil, Christian; Ota, Tsutomu; Yamanaka, Masahiro; Sakaguchi, Chie; Kobayashi, Katsura; Tanaka, Ryoji; Kunihiro, Tak; Kitagawa, Hiroshi; Abe, Masanao; Miyazaki, Akiko; Nakato, Aiko; Nakazawa, Satoru; Nishimura, Masahiro; Okada, Tatsuaki; Saiki, Takanao; Tanaka, Satoshi; Terui, Fuyuto; Tsuda, Yuichi; Usui, Tomohiro; Watanabe, Sei-ichiro
- Abstract
All life on Earth contains amino acids and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites have been suggested as their source at the origin of life on Earth. While many meteoritic amino acids are considered indigenous, deciphering the extent of terrestrial contamination remains an issue. The Ryugu asteroid fragments (JAXA Hayabusa2 mission), represent the most uncontaminated primitive extraterrestrial material available. Here, the concentrations of amino acids from two particles from different touchdown sites (TD1 and TD2) are reported. The concentrations show that N,N-dimethylglycine (DMG) is the most abundant amino acid in the TD1 particle, but below detection limit in the other. The TD1 particle mineral components indicate it experienced more aqueous alteration. Furthermore, the relationships between the amino acids and the geochemistry suggest that DMG formed on the Ryugu progenitor body during aqueous alteration. The findings highlight the importance of aqueous chemistry for defining the ultimate concentrations of amino acids in primitive extraterrestrial samples. Amino acid concentrations from 2 particles returned from different touchdown sites on the surface of Ryugu are reported. Differences in chemistry suggest different levels of aqueous alteration are recorded at the 2 sampled locations.
- Subjects
AMINO acids; CARBONACEOUS chondrites (Meteorites); ASTEROIDS; EXTRATERRESTRIAL beings; ORIGIN of life; DETECTION limit
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2023, Vol 14, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-37107-6