Premium
New Studies on the Murchison Meteorite Shed Light on the Pre‐RNA World
Author(s) -
Strasdeit Henry
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.200400435
Subject(s) - murchison meteorite , homochirality , astrobiology , meteorite , abiogenesis , rna world hypothesis , protocell , treasure , early earth , chondrite , chemistry , enantiomer , biology , organic chemistry , rna , philosophy , biochemistry , ribozyme , membrane , gene , theology
Begin at the beginning . The Murchison meteorite is a treasure trove for prebiotic chemical research. Its extensive inventory of organic compounds is as old as our solar system and probably reflects some of the chemical conditions by which the early steps in the origin of life proceeded. Thus, enantiomeric excesses in certain meteoritic α‐amino acids might have triggered biological homochirality (see scheme).