Publication Date:
2008-10-18
Description:
Miller's 1950s experiments used, besides the apparatus known in textbooks, one that generated a hot water mist in the spark flask, simulating a water vapor-rich volcanic eruption. We found the original extracts of this experiment in Miller's material and reanalyzed them. The volcanic apparatus produced a wider variety of amino acids than the classic one. Release of reduced gases in volcanic eruptions accompanied by lightning could have been common on the early Earth. Prebiotic compounds synthesized in these environments could have locally accumulated, where they could have undergone further processing.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Johnson, Adam P -- Cleaves, H James -- Dworkin, Jason P -- Glavin, Daniel P -- Lazcano, Antonio -- Bada, Jeffrey L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 Oct 17;322(5900):404. doi: 10.1126/science.1161527.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Interdisciplinary Biochemistry Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927386" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Amines/chemistry
;
Amino Acids/*chemistry
;
Ammonia/chemistry
;
Atmosphere
;
*Evolution, Chemical
;
Hydrogen/chemistry
;
Lightning
;
Methane/chemistry
;
Oxidation-Reduction
;
*Volcanic Eruptions
;
Water
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
Permalink