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Parent Body Influences on Amino Acids in the Tagish Lake MeteoriteThe Tagish Lake meteorite is a primitive C2 carbonaceous chondrite with a mineralogy, oxygen isotope, and bulk chemical. However, in contrast to many CI and CM carbonaceous chondrites, the Tagish Lake meteorite was reported to have only trace levels of indigenous amino acids, with evidence for terrestrial L-amino acid contamination from the Tagish Lake meltwater. The lack of indigenous amino acids in Tagish Lake suggested that they were either destroyed during parent body alteration processes and/or the Tagish Lake meteorite originated on a chemically distinct parent body from CI and CM meteorites where formation of amino acids was less favorable. We recently measured the amino acid composition of three different lithologies (11h, 5b, and 11i) of pristine Tagish Lake meteorite fragments that represent a range of progressive aqueous alteration in order 11h < 5b < 11i as inferred from the mineralogy, petrology, bulk isotopes, and insoluble organic matter structure. The distribution and enantiomeric abundances of the one- to six-carbon aliphatic amino acids found in hot-water extracts of the Tagish Lake fragments were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography fluorescence detection and time of flight mass spectrometry coupled with OPA/NAC derivatization. Stable carbon isotope analyses of the most abundant amino acids in 11h were measured with gas chromatography coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometry and isotope ratio mass spectrometry.
Document ID
20110007113
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Glavin, D. P.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Callahan, M. P.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Dworkin, J. P.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Elsila, J. E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Herd, C. D. K.
(Alberta Univ. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
July 25, 2010
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Astrobiology Science Conference
Location: New York, NY
Country: United States
Start Date: July 25, 2010
End Date: July 30, 2010
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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