Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 16 January 1998:
Vol. 279. no. 5349, pp. 362 - 365
DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5349.362
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

A Search for Endogenous Amino Acids in Martian Meteorite ALH84001

Jeffrey L. Bada, * Daniel P. Glavin, Gene D. McDonald, Luann Becker

Trace amounts of glycine, serine, and alanine were detected in the carbonate component of the martian meteorite ALH84001 by high-performance liquid chromatography. The detected amino acids were not uniformly distributed in the carbonate component and ranged in concentration from 0.1 to 7 parts per million. Although the detected alanine consists primarily of the L enantiomer, low concentrations (<0.1 parts per million) of endogenous D-alanine may be present in the ALH84001 carbonates. The amino acids present in this sample of ALH84001 appear to be terrestrial in origin and similar to those in Allan Hills ice, although the possibility cannot be ruled out that minute amounts of some amino acids such as D-alanine are preserved in the meteorite.

J. L. Bada and D. P. Glavin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0212, USA.
G. D. McDonald, Jet Propulsion Laboratory MS 183-301, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
L. Becker, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jbada{at}ucsd.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Development and evaluation of a microdevice for amino acid biomarker detection and analysis on Mars.
A. M. Skelley, J. R. Scherer, A. D. Aubrey, W. H. Grover, R. H. C. Ivester, P. Ehrenfreund, F. J. Grunthaner, J. L. Bada, and R. A. Mathies (2005)
PNAS 102, 1041-1046
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Low Temperature Transfer of ALH84001 from Mars to Earth.
B. P. Weiss, J. L. Kirschvink, F. J. Baudenbacher, H. Vali, N. T. Peters, F. A. Macdonald, and J. P. Wikswo (2000)
Science 290, 791-795
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Amino acids in the Martian meteorite Nakhla.
D. P. Glavin, J. L. Bada, K. L. F. Brinton, and G. D. McDonald (1999)
PNAS 96, 8835-8838
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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