Research Data Leeds Repository

Citation

Laurent, Harrison and Soper, Alan and Dougan, Lorna (2019) Biomolecular Self-Assembly Under Extreme Martian Mimetic Conditions - dataset. University of Leeds. [Dataset] https://doi.org/10.5518/574

Dataset description

The recent discovery of subsurface water on Mars has challenged our understanding of the natural limits of life. The presence of magnesium perchlorate (Mg(ClO4)2) on the Martian surface raises the possibility that it may also be present in this subsurface lake. Given that the subsurface lakes on Earth, such as Lake Vostok and Lake Whillans, are capable of harbouring surprising amounts of life, these new findings raise interesting possibilities for how biomolecules might self-assemble in this environment on Mars. Here we investigate the self-association and hydration of the amino acid glycine in aqueous Mg(ClO4)2 at 25oC and -20oC using neutron diffraction with hydrogen isotope substitution and subsequent analysis with empirical potential structure refinement to yield a simulated box of atoms consistent with the scattering data. We find that although the highly chaotropic properties of Mg(ClO4)2 disrupt the hydration and hydrogen bonding ability of the amino acid, as well as the bulk water structure, glycine molecules are nonetheless still able to self-associate. This occurs more readily at lower temperature, where clusters of up to three molecules are observed, allowing us to speculate that the formation of biological molecules is possible in the Martian environment.

Keywords:	neutron diffraction; empirical potential structure refinement; amino acid; water; clustering
Subjects:	C000 - Biological sciences > C700 - Molecular biology, biophysics & biochemistry > C770 - Biophysical science F000 - Physical sciences > F300 - Physics F000 - Physical sciences > F300 - Physics > F320 - Chemical physics
Divisions:	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Physics and Astronomy
Related resources:	Location Type https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2019.1649485 Publication https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/152138/ Publication
License:	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Date deposited:	09 Aug 2019 13:34
URI:	https://archive.researchdata.leeds.ac.uk/id/eprint/560
Additional details Additional details Creators or authors: Creators ORCID Other ID Email Primary affiliation Primary affiliation ID Primary affiliation ID type Secondary affiliation Secondary affiliation ID Secondary affiliation ID type Laurent, Harrison https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8925-4773 University of Leeds https://ror.org/024mrxd33 ror Soper, Alan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7903-8356 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory https://ror.org/03gq8fr08 ror Dougan, Lorna https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2620-5827 University of Leeds https://ror.org/024mrxd33 ror Type of data: Dataset Research funders: EPSRC Grant numbers: EP/P02288X/1 Publication date: 2019 Resource language: English Metadata language: English Publisher: University of Leeds Contact email: L.Dougan@leeds.ac.uk Last Modified: 29 Oct 2024 11:07

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Data

Glycine-25degC.zip [536kB] Glycine-25degC.zip [536kB] Glycine-25degC.zip [536kB] Security: Anyone File name: Glycine-25degC.zip Content type: Data Description: Raw scattering data and radial distribution funcition data derived from empirical potential structure refinement Mime-Type: application/zip License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) File size: 536kB

Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2--20degC.zip [1MB] Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2--20degC.zip [1MB] Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2--20degC.zip [1MB] Security: Anyone File name: Glycine-Mg_ClO4_2-20degC.zip Content type: Data Description: Raw scattering data and radial distribution funcition data derived from empirical potential structure refinement Mime-Type: application/zip License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) File size: 1MB

Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2-25degC.zip [1MB] Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2-25degC.zip [1MB] Glycine-Mg(ClO4)2-25degC.zip [1MB] Security: Anyone File name: Glycine-Mg_ClO4_2-25degC.zip Content type: Data Description: Raw scattering data and radial distribution funcition data derived from empirical potential structure refinement Mime-Type: application/zip License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) File size: 1MB

Figure information [13kB] Figure information [13kB] Figure information [13kB] Security: Anyone File name: Figure_Information.docx Content type: Data Description: Figure captions Mime-Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) File size: 13kB