Dec 2006, Vol. 6, No. 6 : 824 -837
Full paper
The Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA), a portable microfabricated capillary electrophoresis instrument being developed for planetary exploration, is used to analyze a wide variety of fluorescamine-labeled amine-containing biomarker compounds, including amino acids, mono and diaminoalkanes, amino sugars, nucleobases, and nucleobase degradation products. The nucleobases cytosine and adenine, which contain an exocyclic primary amine, were effectively labeled, separated, and detected at concentrations <500 nM.
To test the general applicability of the MOA for biomarker detection, amino acids and mono- and diamines were extracted from bacterial cells using both hydrolysis and sublimation followed by analysis. The extrapolated limit of detection provided by the valine biomarker was 4 _ 103 cells per sample. Products of an NH4CN polymerization that simulate a prebiotic synthesis were also successfully isolated via sublimation and analyzed. Adenine and alanine/serine were detected with no additional sample cleanup at 120 ± 13 µM and 4.1 ± 1 µM, respectively, corresponding to a reaction yield of 0.04% and 0.0003%, respectively.
This study demonstrates that the MOA provides sensitive detection and analysis of low levels of a wide variety of amine-containing organic compounds from both biological and abiotic sources.
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