Amino Acid Formation on Interstellar Dust Particles

In the dense interstellar medium dust particles accrete ice layers of known molecular composition. In the diffuse interstellar medium these ice layers are subjected to energetic UV-irradiation. Here, photoreactions form complex organic molecules. The interstellar processes were recently successfully simulated in two laboratories. At NASA Ames Research Center three amino acids were detected in interstellar ice analogues [1], contemporaneously, our European team reported on the identification of 16 amino acids therein [2]. Amino acids are the molecular building blocks of proteins in living organisms. The identification of amino acids on the simulated icy surface of interstellar dust particles strongly supports the assumption that the precursor molecules of life were delivered from interstellar and interplanetary space via (micro-) meteorites and/or comets to the earyl Earth. The results shall be verified by the COSAC experiment onboard the ESA cometary mission Rosetta [3]. [1] M.P. Bernstein, J.P. Dworkin, S.A. Sandford, G.W. Cooper, L.J. Allamandola: itshape Nature \upshape 416 (2002), 401-403. [2] G.M. Muñoz Caro, U.J. Meierhenrich, W.A. Schutte, B. Barbier, A. Arcones Sergovia, H. Rosenbauer, W.H.-P. Thiemann, A. Brack, J.M. Greenberg: itshape Nature \upshape 416 (2002), 403-406. [3] U. Meierhenrich, W.H.-P. Thiemann, H. Rosenbauer: itshape Chirality \upshape 11 (1999), 575-582.