Département Chimie, Université de Strasbourg, 72 route du Rhin, 67400 Illkirch, France.
Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2012 Aug;42(4):307-16. doi: 10.1007/s11084-012-9290-5. Epub 2012 Aug 11.
Micro- and sub-micrometer spheres, tubules and fiber-filament soft structures have been synthesized in our experiments conducted with 3 MeV proton irradiations of a mixture of simple inorganic constituents, CO, N(2) and H(2)O. We analysed the irradiation products, with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). These laboratory organic structures produced a wide variety of proteinaceous and non-proteinaceous amino acids after HCl hydrolysis. The enantiomer analysis for D,L-alanine confirmed that the amino acids were abiotically synthesized during the laboratory experiment. We discuss the presence of CO(2) and the production of H(2) during exothermic processes of serpentinization and consequently we discuss the production of hydrothermal CO in a ferromagnesian silicate mineral environment. We also discuss the low intensity of the Earth's magnetic field during the Paleoarchaean Era and consequently we conclude that excitation sources arising from cosmic radiation were much more abundant during this Era. We then show that our laboratory prebiotic microstructures might be synthesized during the Archaean Eon, as a product of the serpentinization process of the rocks and of their mineral contents.
在 3 MeV 质子辐照 CO、N2 和 H2O 的混合物的实验中,我们合成了微纳米级球体、管和纤维-丝状软结构。我们使用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和原子力显微镜(AFM)对辐照产物进行了分析。这些实验室有机结构在 HCl 水解后产生了多种蛋白质和非蛋白质氨基酸。D,L-丙氨酸的对映异构体分析证实,这些氨基酸是在实验室实验中通过非生物合成产生的。我们讨论了蛇纹石化放热过程中 CO2 的存在和 H2 的产生,因此我们讨论了在含铁镁硅酸盐矿物环境中产生水热 CO 的情况。我们还讨论了古太古代时期地球磁场强度较低的情况,因此我们得出结论,在这个时期,来自宇宙辐射的激发源要丰富得多。然后我们表明,我们的实验室前生物微观结构可能是在太古代作为岩石及其矿物成分蛇纹石化过程的产物而合成的。