03-02-2020, 11:35 PM
https://newatlas.com/space/extraterrestr...meteorite/
Scientists have discovered a full, previously-unknown protein inside a meteorite for the first time. Named hemolithin, the new protein contains iron and lithium and may play an important role in seeding life on habitable planets like Earth.
Scientists from Harvard, PLEX Corporation and Bruker Scientific discovered hemolithin in a meteorite known as Acfer 086, which was found in Algeria in 1990. It’s a fairly small protein, made up mostly of the amino acid glycine and capped with iron, oxygen and lithium atoms at the ends. While all those pieces are well-known, this particular arrangement of them has never been seen on Earth before.
Hemolithin is the latest piece of evidence in the mounting case that life’s building blocks began stacking in space, and were delivered to Earth (and possibly other planets) through impacts by space rocks. Plenty of individual amino acids – the building blocks that make up proteins – have been found in meteorites and comets in the past. Amino acid precursors, sugars, organic materials and certain-shaped molecules, all vital for life, have been detected in space or meteorites, too.
Nice
. It's long been suspected that the seeds for life on Earth originated from outer space, but this is really the most compelling direct evidence that we have to date.
I wonder how exactly the proteins formed in space, though?
Scientists have discovered a full, previously-unknown protein inside a meteorite for the first time. Named hemolithin, the new protein contains iron and lithium and may play an important role in seeding life on habitable planets like Earth.
Scientists from Harvard, PLEX Corporation and Bruker Scientific discovered hemolithin in a meteorite known as Acfer 086, which was found in Algeria in 1990. It’s a fairly small protein, made up mostly of the amino acid glycine and capped with iron, oxygen and lithium atoms at the ends. While all those pieces are well-known, this particular arrangement of them has never been seen on Earth before.
Hemolithin is the latest piece of evidence in the mounting case that life’s building blocks began stacking in space, and were delivered to Earth (and possibly other planets) through impacts by space rocks. Plenty of individual amino acids – the building blocks that make up proteins – have been found in meteorites and comets in the past. Amino acid precursors, sugars, organic materials and certain-shaped molecules, all vital for life, have been detected in space or meteorites, too.
Nice
. It's long been suspected that the seeds for life on Earth originated from outer space, but this is really the most compelling direct evidence that we have to date. I wonder how exactly the proteins formed in space, though?
!