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Extraterrestrial Amino Acids in Orgueil and Ivuna: Tracing the Parent Body of CI Type Carbonaceous ChondritesAmino acid analyses using HPLC of pristine interior pieces of the CI carbonaceous chondrites Orgueil and Ivuna have found that beta-alanine, glycine, and gamma-amino-n-butyric acid (ABA) are the most abundant amino acids in these two meteorites, with concentrations ranging from approx. 600 to 2,000 parts per billion (ppb). Other alpha-amino acids such as alanine, alpha-ABA, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), and isovaline are present only in trace amounts (less than 200 ppb). Carbon isotopic measurements of beta-alanine and glycine and the presence of racemic (D/L 1) alanine and beta-ABA in Orgueil suggest that these amino acids are extraterrestrial in origin. In comparison to the CM carbonaceous chondrites Murchison and Murray, the amino acid composition of the CIs is strikingly distinct, suggesting that these meteorites came from a different type of parent body, possibly an extinct comet, than did the CM carbonaceous chondrites.
Document ID
20030068032
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Meyer, Michael
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ehrenfreund, Pascale
(Leiden Univ. Netherlands)
Glavin, Daniel P.
(Scripps Institution of Oceanography La Jolla, CA, United States)
Bota, Oliver
(Scripps Institution of Oceanography La Jolla, CA, United States)
Cooper, George
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Bada, Jeffrey
(Scripps Institution of Oceanography La Jolla, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Publication Information
Publication: PNAS
Volume: 98
Issue: 5
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-4546
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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