Peptides can be stable in concentrated sulphuric acid: study
Researchers have discovered that certain peptides remain stable and fold into complex 3D shapes when placed in 98% concentrated sulphuric acid. This finding challenges previous assumptions about the chemical requirements for life and suggests that environments like Venus's clouds might be more hospitable to complex chemistry than previously thought.
Why it matters
This discovery expands the parameters for astrobiology and the search for life on other planets by proving that biological building blocks can survive in extreme acidic conditions.
Researchers have found that certain peptides — short chains of amino acids that make up proteins — are not only stable in 98% concentrated sulphuric acid but also fold into the complex 3D shapes required to perform the functions central to life.
Thus, the findings, published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September 4, defy the assumption that concentrated sulphuric acid is a bane for the building blocks of life. Scientists had previously found nucleic acid bases and amino acids to be stable in the same solvent; this is the first time a macromolecule important to biology has been shown to be capable of the same feat.
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