Amino Acid Synthesis in a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide - Water System

• Main Authors: Akiyoshi Hoshino, Fumihide Kanaya, Kenji Yamamoto, Yoshinobu Manome, Kouki Fujioka, Tomoo Shiohara, Yasuhiro Futamura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2009-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: supercritical carbon oxide; amino acid; prebiotic chemistry; soda fountain; Mars
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/6/2722/

Mars is a CO2-abundant planet, whereas early Earth is thought to be also CO2-abundant. In addition, water was also discovered on Mars in 2008. From the facts and theory, we assumed that soda fountains were present on both planets, and this affected amino acid synthesis. Here, using a supercritical CO2/liquid H2O (10:1) system which mimicked crust soda fountains, we demonstrate production of amino acids from hydroxylamine (nitrogen source) and keto acids (oxylic acid sources). In this research, several amino acids were detected with an amino acid analyzer. Moreover, alanine polymers were detected with LC-MS. Our research lights up a new pathway in the study of life’s origin.