Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T06:28:21.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Extraterrestrial Chirality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Jeremy Bailey
Jeremy Bailey*
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The homochirality of biological molecules — the almost exclusive use of L-amino acids and D-sugars — is a fundamental property of life, but its origin poses a problem. Recent work has shown an excess of the L enantiomer in amino acids in the Murchison and Murray meteorites, supporting the model, first proposed by Rubenstein et al. (1983) of an extraterrestrial origin for homochirality. This paper discusses the evidence for extraterrestrial chiral asymmetry, the processes which could have led to such asymmetry, and the possible relevance for the origin of biological homochirality on Earth.

Type
Astrochemistry
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 139 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Bada, J. L. 1991, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 333, 349 Google Scholar
Bada, J. L., & Miller, S. L. 1987, BioSystems, 20, 21 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, J. 2001, Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere, 31, 167 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, J., et al. 1998, Science, 281, 579 Google Scholar
Becker, L., Poreda, R.J., & Bada, J.L. 1996, Science, 272, 249 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, L., Poreda, R. J., & Bunch, T. E. 2000, in ASP Conf Ser. Vol. 213, Bioastronomy 99: A New Era in Bioastronomy, ed. Lemarchand, G., Meech, K. (San Francisco: ASP), 243 Google Scholar
Bernstein, M. P., Dvorkin, J. P., Sandford, S. A., Cooper, G. W., & Allamandola, L. J. 2002, Nature, 416, 401 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, J. G., Miller, G. H., Ahrens, M. J., & Winans, R. E. 2001, Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere, 31, 15 Google Scholar
Bonner, W. A. 1991, Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere, 29, 329 Google Scholar
Bonner, W. A., & Rubenstein, E. 1987, BioSystems, 20, 99 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrysostomou, A., Gledhill, T. M., Menard, F., Hough, J. H., Tamura, M., & Bailey, J. 2000, MNRAS, 312, 103 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Combes, F., Q-Rieu, N., & Wloarczak, G. 1996, A&A, 308, 618 Google Scholar
Cronin, J. R., & Pizzarello, S. 1997, Science, 275, 951 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, M. H., & Nagy, B. 1982, Nature, 296, 837 Google Scholar
Engel, M. H., Macko, S. A., & Silfer, J. A. 1990, Nature, 348, 47 Google Scholar
Engel, M. H., & Macko, S.A. 1997, Nature, 389, 256 Google Scholar
Flores, J. J., Bonner, W. A., & Massey, G. A. 1977, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 99, 3622 Google Scholar
Gledhill, T. M., & McCall, A. 2000, MNRAS, 314, 123 Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. M., Kouchi, A., Niessen, W., Irth, H., Van Paradijs, J., de Groot, M., & Hermsen, W. 1994, J. Biol. Phys., 20, 61 Google Scholar
Haldane, J. B. S. 1960, Nature, 185, 87 Google Scholar
Kobayashi, K., et al. 2002, 13th ISSOL Meeting, Oaxaca, Mexico Google Scholar
Lucas, P. 2002, this proceeding Google Scholar
Menard, F., Chrysostomou, A., Gledhill, T. M., Hough, J. H., & Bailey, J. 2000, in ASP Conf Ser. Vol. 213, Bioastronomy 99: A New Era in Bioastronomy, ed. Lemarchand, G., Meech, K. (San Francisco: ASP), 355 Google Scholar
Munoz Caro, G. M., et al. 2002, Nature, 416, 403 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierazzo, E., & Chyba, C. F. 1999, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 34, 909 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzarello, S. 2002, 13th ISSOL Meeting, Oaxaca, Mexico Google Scholar
Pizzarello, S., & Cronin, J.R. 2000, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 64, 329 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzarello, S., & Cronin, J.R. 1998, Nature, 394, 236 Google Scholar
Pizzarello, S., Huang, Y., Becker, L., Poreda, R. J., Nieman, R. A., Cooper, G., & Williams, M. 2001, Science, 293, 2236 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubenstein, E., Bonner, W. A., Noyes, H. P., & Brown, G. S. 1983, Nature, 306, 118 Google Scholar
Shibata, T., Yamamoto, J., Matsumoto, N., Yonekubo, S., Osanai, S., & Soai, K. 1998, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 120, 12157 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, L. E., Hollis, J. M. Suenram, R. D., Lovas, R. J., Brown, L. W., & Buhl, D. 1983, ApJ, 268, 123 Google Scholar
Steele, A., Toporski, J. K. W., & McKay, D. S. 2001, Meteoritics & Planetary Science Supplement, 36, A197 Google Scholar
Thiemann, W. H. -P., & Meierhenrich, U. 2001, Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere, 31, 199 Google Scholar
Zhao, M., & Bada, J. L. 1989, Nature, 339, 463 CrossRefGoogle Scholar