Amino Acids distribution in Atacama Desert soil. De novo Amino Acid Synthesis.

The Northern part of Atacama Desert (Chile) is probably the driest place on Earth. That makes Atacama Desert a good Mars analog. I studied the distribution of amino acids on hill slopes near Yungay (northern part of Atacama Desert). I have shown that the distribution of amino acids demonstrates a very patchy pattern. Correlations were found between geomorphological features and the level of detected amino acids. Surprisingly high level of racemization of serine and alanine was detected in many Atacama soil samples. I will discuss the possible explanation of the presence of racemic serine and alanine as a result of the de novo amino acid synthesis in Atacama soil facilitated by UV.