On Fig. 2a is observed a depression, 140 nm in depth and 1 μm in width. On Fig. 2b is observed a depression, 125 nm in depth and 0.5 μm in width. Figure 2a shows the edges of the depression covered with protuberances which are irregular in shape. The striations observed on the white prominent parts of the depression edges (Fig. 2b) result most probably from an image of the probe tip on the depression slope and not from an image of the structure surface. However, the depression is wide enough to say that the AFM images show the surface of the structures and are not an PF-6463922 purchase artifact

image of the probe tip. EGFR inhibitor The molecular weights of these organic microstructures, determined with GFC, are distributed between several hundred and a maximum of 3000 Da. A wide variety of amino acids were detected after HCl acid-hydrolysis of this dried aliquot (Fig. 3a, b). To eliminate find more possible contamination results, we conducted chiral analysis after derivatization of the hydrolyzed fraction (Takano et al. 2009). Figure 4 shows GC separation of N-pivaloyl-(S)-2-butyl esters of D,L-alanine and glycine. The most abundant chiral amino acid,

D,L-alanine, shows a racemic mixture produced by pristine abiotic chemical synthesis. Therefore, we exclude potential contamination on our organic analysis and we may conclude that the dried irradiation products are composed of abiogenic organic nano and microstructures. Fig. 1 a Three-Dimensional Scanning Electron Microscopy, 3D-SEM, images of the dried product, abiotically synthesized from a gas mixture of CO-N2-H2O excited with 3 MeV proton irradiation; bar is 1 μm, acceleration voltage 2.0 kV, magnification ×7,000, working distance 8 mm. b 3D-SEM, image of the dried proton irradiation product; bar is through 1 μm, acceleration voltage 2.0 kV, magnification ×20,000, working distance 8 mm Fig. 2 a 3D-Atomic

Force Microscopy, 3D-AFM, images of the dried product, abiotically synthesized from a gas mixture of CO-N2-H2O, excited with 3 MeV proton irradiation. b 3D-AFM images of the same structure Fig. 3 a Relative abundance of amino acids detected after acid hydrolysis of the dried irradiation product. Abbreviations. Gly, glycine; D,L-ala, D,L-alanine; D,L-α-ABA, D,L-α-aminobutyric acid; D,L-asp, D,L-aspartic acid; β-ala, β-alanine; D,L ser, D,L-serine; others, including very minor amino acids. b Relative abundance of amino acids on a logarithmic scale Fig. 4 Gas chromatograph (GC) separation and its mass fragment pattern of the N-pivaloyl-(S)-2-butyl esters of D,L-alanine It is to be noticed that we conducted earlier same analytical procedures for analyses of peridotite rocks which were dredged on the ocean floor of the mid-atlantic ridge (MAR) (Bassez et al. 2009). Non racemic mixtures of amino acids were obtained leading to the conclusion of sedimentary biological origin for the observed amino acids.