https://phys.org/news/2020-03-protein-meteorite.html 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. In prior research, scientists have found organic materials, sugars and some other molecules considered to be precursors to amino acids in both meteorites and comets—and fully formed amino acids have been found in comets and meteorites, as well. But until now, no proteins had been found inside of an extraterrestrial object. In this new effort, the researchers have discovered a protein called hemolithin inside of a meteorite that was found in Algeria back in 1990. The hemolithin protein found by the researchers was a small one, and was made up mostly of glycine, and amino acids. It also had oxygen, lithium and iron atoms at its ends—an arrangement never seen before. The team's paper has not yet been peer reviewed, but once the findings are confirmed, their discovery will add another piece to the puzzle that surrounds the development of life on Earth. Proteins are considered to be essential building blocks for the development of living things, and finding one on a meteorite bolsters theories that suggest either life, or something very close to it, came to Earth from elsewhere in space. more at link.... the paper: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2002/2002.11688.pdf Hemolithin: a Meteoritic Protein containing Iron and Lithium. ABSTRACT: 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. Signal-to-noise ratios up to 135 have allowed the quantification of iron and lithium in the various MALDI fragments via the isotope satellites due to their respective minority isotopic masses 54Fe and 6Li. Analysis of the complete spectrum of isotopes associated with each molecular fragment shows 2H enhancements above terrestrial averaging 25,700 parts per thousand (sigma = 3,500, n=15), confirming extra-terrestrial origin and hence the existence of this molecule within the asteroid parent body of the CV3 meteorite class. The molecule is tipped by an iron-oxygen-iron grouping that in other terrestrial contexts has been proposed to be capable of absorbing photons and splitting water into hydroxyl and hydrogen moieties. CONCLUSIONS: One-step room temperature solvent extraction from micron scale particles of the meteorite Acfer 086 (class CV3), has yielded via MALDI mass spectrometry a relatively simple spectrum in the m/z range 1-2,400 that is dominated by a single protein type. This is composed of anti-parallel beta strands of glycine, each of 15 to 17 -residue length, with about 20% oxidation to hydroxy-glycine, and termination at each end with an iron atom directly bonded to C and N terminals of the peptide strands. There are additional tri-oxygen/iron groups at each end, and lithium adducts. The principal indicator of extra-terrestrial origin is an extreme raised D/H ratio that is revealed by close quantitative fitting of isotopic satellite peaks. The average molecular deuterium excess above terrestrial is (25,700 ± 3,500)%0, or a D/H ratio of (4.1 ± 0.5) x10-3, comparable to cometary levels, interstellar levels and also equal to the highest prior report in micro-meteorites. The iron oxide grouping at the tips of the molecule is of a type studied in other contexts for the photo-splitting of water
