Key Phosphorus-Based Molecule For Life On Earth May Have Come From Space
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The answer to "How did the first organisms on Earth incorporate the critical element phosphorus?" has been a quandary for researchers, but, University of HawaiEi at MAnoa physical chemists believe a meteoric visitor could be the critical link. Phosphorus is a key element for the molecules that compose all living organisms and helps form the backbone of DNA molecules, cell membranes (phospholipids), even bones and teeth. However, most phosphorus on Earth is bound in a state that does not allow for easy release or access. Modern organisms have evolved to extract the limited supplies of phosphorus in water.
UH MAnoa physical chemists in collaboration with colleagues from France and Taiwan have suggested that alkyl phosphonic acids, which are the only known phosphorus-containing organic compounds of extraterrestrial origin and were delivered to Earth on the Murchison meteorite, could have been the early source of soluble organic phosphorus available for Earth's first organisms.
Using sophisticated laser-based detection techniques available at UH's W.M. Keck Laboratory in Astrochemistry to identify newly formed molecules. The researchers discovered alkylphosphonic deep space. "It also provides a critical component for understanding the origin of life," collaborator Cornelia Meinert (University of Nice, France).
The research is outlined in "Origin of alkyl phosphonic acids in the interstellar medium" by former UH MAnoa graduate students Andrew M. Turner and Matthew Abplanalp and postdoctoral fellows Alexandre Bergantini, Robert Frigge and Cheng Zhu, and UH MAnoa chemistry Professor Ralf I. Kaiser, in the August 7, issue of Science Advances.
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