title: Detection of peptidic sequences in the ancient acidic sediments of Río Tinto, Spain.
abstract: Biomarkers are molecules that are produced by or can be associated with biological activities. They can be used as tracers that give us an idea of the ancient biological communities that produced them, the paleoenvironmental conditions where they lived, or the mechanism involved in their transformation and preservation. As a consequence, the preservation potential of molecules over time depends largely on their nature, but also on the conditions of the environment, which controls the decomposition kinetics. In this context, proteins and nucleic acids, which are biomolecules bearing biological information, are among the most labile molecules. In this research, we report the presence of short-chained peptides obtained from extracts of ferruginous sedimentary deposits that have been produced under the acidic and oxidizing solutions of Río Tinto, Spain. These preliminary results go against the paradigmatic idea that considers the acidic and oxidizing environments inappropriate for the preservation of molecular information.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Astrobiología, (CSIC/INTA), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial. Ctra. de Torrejón a Ajalvir, km 4, 28850. Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colín-García
authors.forename: Basem
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kanawati
authors.forename: Mourad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harir
authors.forename: Phillippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmitt-Kopplin
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amils
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parro
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fernández-Remolar
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D019419:Evolution, Planetary; D018559:Exobiology; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D018535:Mars; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010455:Peptides