The abundance of CO2 was higher during Archaean Eon. The atmospheric partial pressure Crenigacestat chemical structure of CO2 was several times higher 3.2 Ga ago than present-day values (Hessler et al. 2004). The source of excitation, protons, was also higher. Protons arise from cosmic radiation or from gamma rays included in cosmic radiation which induce protons through water radiolysis. In Paleoarchaean Era, 3.5 Ga ago, the Earth magnetic field was much lower than in Phanerozoic Eon, Holocene Epoch. A very low equatorial paleointensity of ~5 μT at c.a.

3.5 Ga was reported (Hale 1987; Yoshihara and Hamano 2002) which corresponds to 17 % of the present day value. Cosmic radiation and its components could consequently easily reach the surface of the Earth. Little is known about coronal mass ejection of the Paleoarchaean Sun. However, a proton source from cosmic radiation reaching the surface of the Earth seems more probable than a proton source induced by gamma rays arising from extinct radionuclides. Indeed, the amount of radioactivity brought by the late heavy bombardment has been recently controversial. It is to be noticed that an excitation source arising from cosmic radiation, such as protons, helium nuclei and electrons would most probably produce the same kind of structures since earlier

experiments (Kobayashi et al. 1998) showed that products were independent of the nature of the irradiating particles. AZD1480 order Experiments Carnitine dehydrogenase on the thermal

alteration of these abiotic structures have been recently conducted (Kurihara et al. 2012). They show the formation of organic aggregates with aromatic carbon, at temperatures between 200 and 400 °C and under fluid pressure of 25 MPa. Conclusion We demonstrate that organic micro and sub-microstructures are synthesized during proton irradiation of a gaseous mixture of CO, N2, H2O. Their shapes vary from PCI-32765 cost spheres to filaments and they produce amino acids after HCl hydrolysis. The enantiomer analysis for D,L-alanine confirmed that the amino acids were abiotically synthesized during the laboratory experiment. Analysing hydrothermal, chemical and mineral conditions of natural formation on Earth, we show that these prebiotic microstructures might be synthesized during Archaean Eon, from a mixture of CO, N2 and H2O, in hydrothermal silicate environments and under an excitation source arising from cosmic radiation which existed in higher intensity 3.5 Ga ago than Phanerozoic Eon, Holocene Epoch. We show that these prebiotic microstructures might be formed as a product of the exothermic hydrolysis of the rocks and of their mineral contents during the process of serpentinization. Amino acid precursors were first obtained from proton irradiation of CO, N2, H2O in 1989 (Kobayashi et al. 1989).