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Science 14 February 1997:
Vol. 275. no. 5302, pp. 942 - 943
DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5302.942
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Perspectives

Jeffrey L. Bada

Biological systems exhibit molecular handedness: During biosynthesis, predominantly L amino acids rather than D amino acids are incorporated into proteins. The origins of this handedness remain puzzling. In his Perspective, Bada discusses results reported by Cronin and Pizzarello in the same issue (p. 951) showing a slight excess of L amino acids in a well-known extraterrestrial object, the Murchison meteorite. This finding suggests the existence of an enrichment process in cosmochemical environments and could possibly be the source of molecular handedness on Earth.

The author is at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0212, USA. E-mail: jbada{at}ucsd.edu

Also see the archival list of Enhanced Perspectives

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)