Some scientists believe that amino acids were formed in space and reached Earth via asteroids and meteorites
Mark Garlick/SPL/Alamy
Molecules important to life may have formed in the cold, distant universe, alongside budding stars and planets.
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are essential to life on Earth. Some scientists suspect that they were brought to our planet by meteorites or asteroids. In fact, over the past few decades, several organic molecules, such as carbonic acid, have been discovered floating in space. However, how exactly these molecules are formed is unknown.
now, ralph kaiser Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa have discovered that an important amino acid called carbamic acid can be produced by reactions in deep space ice blocks.
Carbamate is a simple amino acid and a precursor to more complex compounds that occur naturally in a variety of enzymes.
To test whether carbamic acid can be produced in the extremely cold environment of space, the research team placed carbon dioxide and ammonia, the reactants that produce carbamic acid, in a refrigerator that can be cooled to 5 Kelvin (-268°C).
The researchers then slowly raised the temperature and found that at 62 K, carbon dioxide and ammonia reacted to form carbamic acid. They also discovered that ammonium carbamate, a salt that helps process the complex urea that is the main component of urine, was formed at 39 K, suggesting the building blocks of life may have come to Earth from space. Added credibility to the idea.
These conditions are similar to those seen in molecular clouds around young stars and planets, Kaiser said, and carbamic acids and ammonium carbamates may have first appeared on ice in these regions. Masu.
“Eventually, these compounds could be incorporated into meteorites and asteroids, which would introduce them into our solar system and other solar systems,” he says.
The research team hopes this discovery will help astronomers look for these amino acids in the universe, which can be done using instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope.
“Knowing where these molecular precursors are located and under what conditions they form allows us to predict where life has formed or could have formed.” Kaiser says.
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