Posted: Mar 02, 2020 7:00 pm
New paper appeared on the Arxiv where scientists are reporting to have discovered the first protein not having a terrestrial origin. It needs to be stated that if this result stands up to scrutiny(other labs will probably have to confirm these results), it likely not a product of life, but of abiotic chemistry that happens inside carbonaceous chondrites.
http://astrobiology.com/2020/02/hemolithin-a-meteoritic-protein-containing-iron-and-lithium.html
http://astrobiology.com/2020/02/hemolithin-a-meteoritic-protein-containing-iron-and-lithium.html
This paper characterizes the first protein to be discovered in a meteorite. Amino acid polymers previously observed in Acfer 086 and Allende meteorites [1,2] have been further characterized in Acfer 086 via high precision MALDI mass spectrometry to reveal a principal unified structure of molecular weight 2320 Daltons that involves chains of glycine and hydroxy-glycine residues terminated by iron atoms, with additional oxygen and lithium atoms.
