Curious layman Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 Model of the 2320 hemolithin molecule after MMFF energy minimization. Top: in space-filling mode; Center: ball and stick; Bottom: enlarged view of iron, oxygen and lithium termination. White = H; orange = Li; grey = C; blue = N; red = O and green = Fe. Hydrogen bonds are shown by dotted lines. Credit: arXiv:2002.11688 [astro-ph.EP] Quote A team of researchers from Plex Corporation, Bruker Scientific LLC and Harvard University has found evidence of a protein inside of a meteorite. They have written a paper describing their findings and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-protein-meteorite.amp?utm_source=quora&utm_medium=referral 2
Moontanman Posted March 14, 2020 Posted March 14, 2020 Good find I also saw where they found a sugar or is this the same thing?
Curious layman Posted March 15, 2020 Author Posted March 15, 2020 17 hours ago, Moontanman said: Good find I also saw where they found a sugar or is this the same thing? Looks like the same thing. They found Ribose, a type of sugar found in RNA. Doesn't mention it in my link. Found another story that mentions it and also says; Quote The team admits, however, that what they have found may instead be a polymer a broader class of molecules of which protein is a member and they are inviting further research into Acfer 086 and similar meteorites to confirm what exactly they’ve found https://www.poandpo.com/in-the-meantime/first-extraterrestrial-protein-found-inside-meteorite-232020498/
friendstalkingwithyou Posted April 9, 2020 Posted April 9, 2020 fantastic news, I will pass it on to my friends again, thanks
cannongray Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 According to chemists, a lot of chances are needed for protein to form in space. In order for hemolithin to form naturally in the found configuration, glycine in cosmic dust grains is first required. After that, heating by molecular clouds could lead to the fact that the glycine units began to bind into polymer chains, which at some point evolved into fully formed proteins.
jimmydasaint Posted February 10, 2021 Posted February 10, 2021 Wow. This is fascinating. Just out of interest please, where is oxygen formed? Also, does the hypothesis propose if the protein can actually be biochemically active? Good find!
Bufofrog Posted February 10, 2021 Posted February 10, 2021 1 hour ago, jimmydasaint said: Just out of interest please, where is oxygen formed? The element oxygen is formed in stars.
MigL Posted February 10, 2021 Posted February 10, 2021 It would me much more impressive if we knew the origin of the protein containing meteorite. Keep in mind that during the Earth's history, it has been bombarded by many asteroids. The one that hit the Yucatan Peninsula 65 Million years ago. for example, sent a lot of debris into space, along with quite a bit of organic material. If some of that material finds its way back to Earth, as meteorites, it is not really extra-terrestrial.
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