In what can prove to be a major breakthrough for science, space research and our search for life outside earth, a group of scientists claim to have observed what they regard as the first ever trace of protein that did not originate on Earth. The observation, which involved the use of a newly devised mass spectrometry method in collaboration with the PLEX Corporation, implicates the said polymer to be a protein, and the first one to be observed on a meteorite — an extraterrestrial object. This is incredibly crucial towards understanding the presence of life outside Earth, since as far as our understanding goes, life cannot be created without protein.
The research found the amino acid glycine in the meteorite Acfer 086, which was found in Algeria back in 1990. As reported first by ScienceAlert, the acid compound was linked to other elements, iron and lithium, inside the meteorite, and was eventually inferred as being part of a protein that is not matched to any protein constituent found on Earth. It has since been named hemolithin, and interestingly, despite not matching the exact ion ratios to any protein found on Earth, appears to show structural similarity with Earth's proteins. The researchers also observed that the compound's molecular bonds and configuration appeared in line with compounds often observed on long trajectory comets, which further solidifies the claims of this being an extraterrestrial protein.
While this does not essentially confirm the presence of life outside of Earth, if proven true, it will implicate that one of life's fundamental building blocks can occur extraterrestrially, and in essence, lend a very strong support to the theory of life's possibility outside Earth. Meteorites, or space rocks, are small fragments that break apart from the larger rock when they enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, and because of their nature, make for a very important way for scientists to study their origins in the galaxy, and what might they bring to Earth from space.
This is not the first time that a key building block of life has been found in a meteorite. We have so far observed the presence of ribose, a sugar compound that is a crucial component of the human RNA strands (Ribonucleic acid). We have also observed the presence of cyanide in these space rocks, which also makes for a fundamental compound that can build life the way we know it, on Earth. Going forward, the paper detailing the observation of hemolithin by researchers Malcolm McGeoch, Sergei Dikler and Julie McGeoch has been submitted for peer reviewing, and for anyone interested, can be accessed on arXiv.
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