Right and Left Handedness in Carbohyderates?
I read a short paper by Gilbert Levin, the inventor of the famous Viking Labeled Release experiment, called "Will NASA Unwittingly Confirm Life on Mars". Levin was talking about the ill fated Mars Polar Lander and its Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) experiment designed to test for the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
NASA claims that the presence of hydrogen peroxide would explain the positive results of the Labled Release (LR) experiment as well as the negative results of the Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer (GCMS), both onboard Viking I and II. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with organic compounds, destroying them, in a process that could look like metabolism.
TEGA would test for hydrogen peroxide by heating soil samples and analyzing the gasses released. Levin suggested a modification to this experiment that would settle, once and for all, the debate over the LR results.
This is where the carbs come into play!
Levin mentioned that all life uses right-hand carbohyderates and left-hand amino acids. (This is in regard to stereoisomers.) I've never heard this before. It seems like a great way to distinguish between mere chemical reactions (that don't favor one isomer over another) and life (which does).
Unfortunately, NASA, despide initial enthusiasm for Levin's proposal, ultimately rejected the idea. Even more unfortunately, MPL was lost before landing, and any data the probe could have collected is also lost.
NASA claims that the presence of hydrogen peroxide would explain the positive results of the Labled Release (LR) experiment as well as the negative results of the Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer (GCMS), both onboard Viking I and II. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with organic compounds, destroying them, in a process that could look like metabolism.
TEGA would test for hydrogen peroxide by heating soil samples and analyzing the gasses released. Levin suggested a modification to this experiment that would settle, once and for all, the debate over the LR results.
This is where the carbs come into play!
Levin mentioned that all life uses right-hand carbohyderates and left-hand amino acids. (This is in regard to stereoisomers.) I've never heard this before. It seems like a great way to distinguish between mere chemical reactions (that don't favor one isomer over another) and life (which does).
Unfortunately, NASA, despide initial enthusiasm for Levin's proposal, ultimately rejected the idea. Even more unfortunately, MPL was lost before landing, and any data the probe could have collected is also lost.
posted by Leif at 10:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home