Keystone Symposia 2008 Conference Schedule Sign up for PNAS Online eTocs
Link: Info for AuthorsLink: Editorial BoardLink: AboutLink: SubscribeLink: AdvertiseLink: ContactLink: Sitemap Link: PNAS Home
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Link: Current Issue "" Link: Archives "" Link: Online Submission ""  Link: Advanced Search


PNAS | January 30, 2001 | vol. 98 | no. 3 | 815-819
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a colleague
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Copyright Permission
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dworkin, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by Allamandola, L. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dworkin, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by Allamandola, L. J.
Related Content
Right arrow Astrobiology Special Feature
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg  
What's this?

 Previous Article  | Table of Contents |  Next Article 

Special Feature
Research Article
Chemistry
 Self-assembling amphiphilic molecules: Synthesis in simulated interstellar/precometary ices

(vesicle / amphiphile / origin of life / interstellar ice / cometary delivery)

Jason P. Dworkin*,dagger , David W. DeamerDagger , Scott A. Sandford*,§, and Louis J. Allamandola*

* Astrochemistry Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 245-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000; dagger  Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, 2035 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043; and Dagger  Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Edited by Stanley L. Miller, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved December 13, 2000 (received for review October 25, 2000)

Interstellar gas and dust constitute the primary material from which the solar system formed. Near the end of the hot early phase of star and planet formation, volatile, less refractory materials were transported into the inner solar system as comets and interplanetary dust particles. Once the inner planets had sufficiently cooled, late accretionary infall seeded them with complex organic compounds [Oró, J. (1961) Nature (London) 190, 389-390; Delsemme, A. H. (1984) Origins Life 14, 51-60; Anders, E. (1989) Nature (London) 342, 255-257; Chyba, C. F. & Sagan, C. (1992) Nature (London) 355, 125-131]. Delivery of such extraterrestrial compounds may have contributed to the organic inventory necessary for the origin of life. Interstellar ices, the building blocks of comets, tie up a large fraction of the biogenic elements available in molecular clouds. In our efforts to understand their synthesis, chemical composition, and physical properties, we report here that a complex mixture of molecules is produced by UV photolysis of realistic, interstellar ice analogs, and that some of the components have properties relevant to the origin of life, including the ability to self-assemble into vesicular structures.

§ To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: ssandford{at}mail.arc.nasa.gov.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:


Home page
 Reviews in Mineralogy and GeochemistryHome page
S. A. Sandford, S. Messenger, M. DiSanti, L. Keller, and K. Altwegg
Oxygen in Comets and Interplanetary Dust Particles
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, January 1, 2008; 68(1): 247 - 272.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
K. Nakamura-Messenger, S. Messenger, L. P. Keller, S. J. Clemett, and M. E. Zolensky
Organic Globules in the Tagish Lake Meteorite: Remnants of the Protosolar Disk
Science, December 1, 2006; 314(5804): 1439 - 1442.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 American MineralogistHome page
R. M. Hazen
Presidential Address to the Mineralogical Society of America, Salt Lake City, October 18, 2005: Mineral surfaces and the prebiotic selection and organization of biomolecules
American Mineralogist, November 1, 2006; 91(11-12): 1715 - 1729.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biophys. JHome page
I. A. Chen and J. W. Szostak
A Kinetic Study of the Growth of Fatty Acid Vesicles
Biophys. J., August 1, 2004; 87(2): 988 - 998.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
I. A. Chen and J. W. Szostak
Membrane growth can generate a transmembrane pH gradient in fatty acid vesicles
PNAS, May 25, 2004; 101(21): 7965 - 7970.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
M. M. Hanczyc, S. M. Fujikawa, and J. W. Szostak
Experimental Models of Primitive Cellular Compartments: Encapsulation, Growth, and Division
Science, October 24, 2003; 302(5645): 618 - 622.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]