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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1971 Feb;68(2):486–490. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.2.486

Nonprotein Amino Acids in the Murchison Meteorite

Keith A Kvenvolden 1, James G Lawless 1, Cyril Ponnamperuma 1
PMCID: PMC388966  PMID: 16591908

Abstract

Twelve nonprotein amino acids appear to be present in the Murchison meteorite. The identity of eight of them has been conclusively established as N-methylglycine, β-alanine, 2-methylalanine, α-amino-n-butyric acid, β-amino-n-butyric acid, γ-amino-n-butyric acid, isovaline, and pipecolic acid. Tentative evidence is presented for the presence of N-methylalanine, N-ethylglycine, β-aminoisobutyric acid, and norvaline. These amino acids appear to be extraterrestrial in origin and may provide new evidence for the hypothesis of chemical evolution.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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